'Abduction' of Youth: Accused bullying victim's family
With a private university student remaining traceless for 16 months, two accused in an abduction case filed after his disappearance are allegedly harassing his family through false cases.
Asif Imran, 19, a first-year student of American International University of Bangladesh (AIUB), along with some of his friends went out of his home at Uttara in the capital on October 7, 2015.
Later that day, one of his friends, Golam Mostafa Adar, took him to a city corporation councillor's office at Baburail in Narayanganj. He never returned from there, said the victim's family members.
As Imran's parents were in Saudi Arabia for Hajj that time, his sister Nazia Tamanna filed a general diary with Uttara West Police Station over the incident.
On his return, Imran's father Lutfar Rahman, a former manager (training) at Ashuganj Power Station, filed the abduction case with the same police station on November 1.
The accused in the case are Adar, his father Golam Mostafa Kalu, Alamgir Islam, the then councillor of Narayanganj City Corporation Ward-17, and his nephew Reazul Islam Pritom.
Later, police arrested four people, including Adar and Reazul, and claimed that three of the arrestees and two witnesses told a court that Imran was indeed taken to the councillor's office that day.
Interestingly, getting out of jail on bail, Adar and Kalu filed three cases with Bangshal Police Station in October and December of the same year.
Quoting the case statements, Adar alleged that Lutfar had taken some money from them. Later, he sent his son abroad and filed the false (abduction) case so that he does not have to pay it back.
Talking to The Daily Star, Lutfar said, “At first, they took away my son from me. And now they are continuously intimidating and harassing my family through false cases.”
Contacted, Nure Alam Siddique, officer-in-charge of Bangshal Police Station, said police were preparing the final reports in the cases as they did not find any evidence against Lutfar.
Asked, he said they recorded the cases as they were unaware of the issue.
Adar claimed that he was innocent.
“I am being victimised as I took Imran to that councillor's office that day,” he said.
Two weeks after the incident, Adar said, he submitted a letter to superintendent of police in Narayanganj, seeking legal steps to find out Imran.
"Around 4:00pm [on the day of the incident], councillor Alamgir Hossain called me over the phone and told me to visit him at his office in Baburail,” Adar said, quoting the letter.
As soon as he along with two of his friends, including Imran, went there, the then commissioner and his men started beating them, he said.
All but Imran managed to flee and he has been traceless since then, he added.
The councillor, who was also arrested in the abduction case, is now on bail.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) which is currently looking into the case arrested five other people, suspecting their involvement in the “abduction”.
The five -- Monowar Hossain, Safa Rafsan, Shuvo Poddar, Reazul Islam Pritom and Md Limon -- are in jail.
The CID collected DNA samples from Imran's parents on December 18 last year to match them with the sample taken from a body recovered from the Buriganga river days after Imran went missing. The body was later buried as an unclaimed one.
Rezaul Hyder, special superintendent of the CID, told The Daily Star that they did not find any evidence that Imran went abroad.
“Currently, we are waiting for the DNA report which is being prepared at the lab,” he said, adding that the probe would progress once they got the report.
Asked about the possible motive, he said they were investigating the case keeping many points, including rivalry and money issues, in mind. “We can't say it clearly right now for the sake of investigation.”
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