Adnan Missing: Police claim he was in Gaibandha

The hearsay of young Islamic preacher Abu Taw Haa Muhammad Adnan hiding in one of his friend's house in Gaibandha created confusion.

Adnan, along with the associates and the driver, left Dhaka's Gabtoli for Rangpur on the night of June 10. They went to the house of Adnan's friend Siam Ibn Sharif in Gaibandha Sadar upazila, said police.

In a press briefing, Abu Maruf Hossain, DC (crime) of Rangpur Metropolitan Police, also told journalists that after reaching Trimohoni in Gaibandha, they switched off their phones.

The police official said they went into hiding willingly due to various family and personal problems.

Talking to The Daily Star, Siam, however, said, "I did not know that he was staying at our house for the last eight days.

"After Adnan went missing, we even had a human chain in Rangpur with school friends," he told our correspondent over the phone yesterday afternoon.

On top of that, none of the locals noticed the car that carried Adnan and his friends in the area.

Only Nishat Nahar, Siam's mother, said the car took the group to their house and returned. It then went back to that house on last Friday to take them.

"During that time, I also talked to my mother about Adnan being missing but she did not tell me anything," Siam said. 

"I was angry with my mother when I went to my home last Friday and heard that they left my house," he added.

Siam and Adnan, who remained missing from June 11 to June 18, were childhood friends and studied together at Lions School and College in Rangpur.

From then on, Adnan used to visit Siam's house regularly.

The residents of houses that are just 15-20 meters away from the house where Adnan and his companions stayed did not notice them at the house in those eight days, they said.

AM ​​Abdul Majed Uddin Khan, chairman of Boali Union Parishad, his wife Nazneen Chowdhury, and their son Asif Khan live right beside Siam's house.

Contacted, Majed, who is also the elder uncle of Siam, said, "As I am the running chairman of this union parishad, I remain busy with many activities. I do not get the time to go to Siam's house. We do not know that Adnan was hiding at Siam's house for the last seven days."

Siam's younger uncle Sohel Nawaz Khan lives with his family only 10 yards away from Siam's house.

Contacted, he said that he and his family did not know anything.

However, he also said, "I heard the news of Adnan's disappearance on television."

While talking to Siam's mother, a woman working next house, entered Siam's house but Siam's mother did not allow her to enter the house.

When this reporter later tried to talk to house help, she refused to talk and said, "I do not know whether Adnan and his companions were here."

Asked why Siam's mother did not tell anyone about Adnan, she said, "Antar [Adnan's nickname] had forbidden me from that.

"That day he came to our house with Abdul Muhith, Firoz Alam and Amir Uddin and asked me for shelter for a few days."

Adnan told Siam's mother that some people were following him for some days and he was threatened, she said.

Talking to the locals, villagers and shopkeepers around the village, this correspondent found no one that saw a car dropping Adnan at the village.