He left saying he was going to mosque
Taj-Ul-Haque Rashiq graduated from the electrical and electronics engineering department of a private university in the capital early this year and disappeared soon afterwards, said neighbours.
He sometimes contacted his family members over the phone and told them that he was doing well, they added.
But Rashiq, son of Rabiul Haque in the capital's Dhanmondi area, turned out to be a militant, according to police.
He was one of the nine militants who were killed during a law enforcers' raid at a militant den in the capital's Kalyanpur on Tuesday morning, police said.
Police and neighbours said Rashiq was a student of North South University. But The Daily Star could not independently verify it.
After police disclosed identities and addresses of seven of the nine militants yesterday, this correspondent went to his house in Dhanmondi.
Alamgir Hossain, manager of the building, said Rabiul was not in his house and her wife and other family members were not in a condition to talk to journalists.
The Daily Star, however, talked to two residents of the building to collect information about Rashiq.
MA Jalil, general secretary of flat owners' association of the building, told The Daily Star that Rabiul has been living in the building for over one and a half decades.
Jalil said he did not know that Rashiq went missing. But, he came to know about the matter yesterday morning when he went to Rabiul's flat to ask him why the law enforcers went there on Tuesday night.
Then, Rabiul informed him that Rashiq left the house to say his prayers at a nearby mosque towards the end of January and never returned.
“When I asked him why he, despite being a conscious citizen, did not file a general diary in this regard, he told me that his son did not go missing as he [Rashiq] contacted him over the phone,” said Jalil.
When his father asked Rashiq when he would return home, Rashiq used to tell him that he was doing well and would return home someday, Jalil said quoting Rabiul.
Rashiq used to offer his prayers regularly at a nearby mosque, said Jalil, adding that, Rabiul was a businessman and is now sick.
Ehsamul Azim, a next door neighbour of Rabiul, immediately identified the Rashiq when this correspondent showed him Rashiq's photo provided by police.
He said Rabiul returned Bangladesh around one and a half decades ago, as he didn't like the western culture and believed that their children would be “spoiled” if they grew up there.
Azim said he had a little interaction with Rashiq as he seemed to be an introvert.
“His parents used to tell us that he [Rashiq] worked in Chittagong,” said Azim, adding that, he also came to know that Rashiq “went missing” when law enforcers came to their building on Tuesday night.
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