Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) Court, Chittagong, yesterday placed Sobhan, driver of the microbus used in the abduction, on a 4-day remand and Kala Mahbub, one of the four people allegedly responsible for murdering Jamaluddin, on a 5-day remand when Rab-7 of Chittagong made separate prayers.

Rab will interrogate Kala Mahbub in the abduction case and Sobhan in a separate case as he already made a confessional statement under Section 164 in connection with the abduction.

Rab will quiz them taking face-to-face with Shahid Chairman, who passed the first day of his second phase of 5-day remand at the Rab Headquarters at Patenga yesterday.

Shahidul Islam alias Shahid Chairman earlier divulged names of all involved in the abduction and narrated how it was carried out, claiming that he was involved in the abduction till handing the victim Jamaluddin over to another group for carrying him to the hideout under the custody of Kashem Chairman.

Sobhan in his confessional statement under Section 164 named Shahid Chairman and Kashem Chairman as the two masterminds and Nazim Uddin of Hiledhar, Ishaq Ahmad alias "one-piece Ishaq", Shafiuddin and Yusuf for taking part in the abduction directly.

Kala Mahbub, as per the statement of Shahid Chairman, was one of the four-member squad who allegedly killed Jamaluddin in captivity.

Considering these facts, Shahid Chairman needs to be interrogated face-to-face with Sobhan and Kala Mahbub to have a clear picture of the whole incident, the Rab-7 officials said, adding that

it will help to get a confession under Section 164 from Shahid and bring all the criminals under trial.

Meanwhile, the Chittagong CMM court granted the Criminal Investigation Department of police 5-day remand of Shahjahan, the chairman of Hiledhar union parishad (UP) under Anowara upazila, who was earlier shown arrested in Jamaluddin abduction case.

Shahjahan is an alleged aide of ruling BNP MP Sarwar Jamal Nizam's brother Maruf Nizam, who as per Shahid's confession to Rab, orchestrated the abduction plot and had it accomplished with the help of his business partner Helal and UP Chairman Shahjahan.

Jamaluddin Ahmed Chowdhury, also a leader of Chittagong (south) district unit of ruling BNP, was abducted from Chandgaon Residential Area while returning home from his business place at Chawk Bazar on July 24, 2003.