16 found in five dists

A day after Rab published a list of 262 missing people on Tuesday, it was found that at least 16 of them from five districts either returned home or contacted their family members.

Of the 16, seven are from Chittagong, six from Comilla and one each from Dhaka, Pabna and Bogra, according to reports from our district correspondents.

Rapid Action Battalion published the list of the missing people from 39 districts amid reports about youths having left home to take part in militant activities.

In Chittagong, one of the missing youths, mentioned in the Rab list, was found in prison.

Md Manik Hossain, 26, son of Kanmal Hossain from East Madarbari, went missing on May 19. His wife Najma Begum lodged a general dairy with Sadarghat Police station two days later.

Police then found that he was arrested by the Detective Branch (DB) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police with 105 pieces of banned yaba tablets from the ground floor of Shawkat Bhaban in East Madarbari. The DB filed a case against Manik under Narcotic Control Act.

"Manik is now in jail," said Marjina Akter, officer-in-charge of Sadarghat Police Station.

Contacted, Manik's wife Najma said she met her husband several times at Chittagong Central Jail.

"My husband was a drug addict but he was not a drug peddler. The DB framed my husband," she claimed.

In the port city, two more people, who are on the Rab list, were found to have retuned home.

They are Md Sabuj, 25, from Sarkari Pukur Par in Sadarghat and Jewel, 21, from East Madarbari.

Sabuj's father said his son returned home around three weeks after he went missing on April 6. He filed a GD on April 8.

Jewel left home on February 19 after his family refused to accept his affair with a girl. His brother Ilias Ali lodged a GD with Sadarghat Police Station on February 21.

"He returned home within two months and is now living here along with his wife”, said Ilias.

Four more persons, reported missing in the port city's Akbershah area, also returned home, according to the register of Akbershah Police Station.

Asif Iqbal, 34, son of Iqbal khan from East Firoz Shah, went missing on March 12 this year. His brother Shahbaj Khan filed a GD three days later.

He withdrew the GD on July 19 as Asif returned home.

Imran Hossain, 27, a doctor at a private hospital in Chittagong, travelled to the capital on February 25 and his mobile phone was found switched off that morning. His brother-in-law filed a GD on February 26 night. Later, Imran contacted him.

Another person listed as missing is Milad, 32, a shopkeeper. He returned home a few days after he had gone missing on February 17.

Hasan Kawser, 25, went missing on January 14. He was found 15 days later, said Bimol Kanti, sub-inspector of Akber Shah Police Station, quoting Hasan's brother Sawkat. He had been arrested in connection with a case.

In Comilla, six people whose names were on the Rab list have returned home.

They are Abdus Salam, Saddam Hossain, Ehsanul Haque Kawsar, Rajon, Masud Parvez, and Dr Kazi Md Zahir.

Tonmoy Roy, a resident of the capital's Rampura, left for Cox's Bazar on April 1, but he missed his bus in Comilla. One of his friends filed a GD with Comilla police that day. Tonmoy returned home a day later.

In Pabna, Rafiq Mollah, 25, from Aminpur, went missing before the Eid-ul-fitr. After a GD was filed on July 7, police learnt that Rafiq, a carpenter, eloped with a woman, said Tazul Huda, OC of Aminpur Police Station.

In Bogra, Saidul Islam, who is on the Rab list, was found in the capital's Paltan area two days after his wife filed a GD on June 14.

Meanwhile in Munshiganj, a college girl, who went missing on June 19, reported to Srinagar Police Station yesterday that she had eloped with her schoolteacher and married him.

There were rumours that she had joined militants after her mother filed a GD with the police station on July 10.