3 of a family picked up by 'detectives'

A group of people identifying themselves as detectives has picked up three persons of a family from their house in Chittagong city's Khulshi area, alleged relatives yesterday.

Even after six days, the relatives did not know the whereabouts of Shafiqur Rahman, 42, his brothers-in-law Moajjem Hossain Sathi, 18, and Hasan Tarek, 21, they told a press conference at Chittagong Press Club.

Around 2:00pm on March 24, six plain-clothes individuals came to their house at Alfalah Goli, said Soltana Razia Tumpa, wife of Shafiqur Rahman, who runs a fishing trawler rental business.

“They also took away eight mobiles and asked my husband to sign a paper. As he refused to do so, they detained him saying he would be sent back after two hours,” she said.

“When my brother Sathi tried to take photos of the six, they held him too and got them in a white microbus that had no number plates. As Tarek followed them by a motorbike, they also caught him.”

On March 25, Shafiqur called Tumpa over the cellphone saying they were taken by a “special team of the government” to Dhaka, said Tumpa. He, however, could not say the exact place, she said, adding, they could not contact him again as his cellphone is found switched off.

They are going through severe torture, she quoted Shafiqur as saying.

On that night, Shafiqur's wife filed a general diary with Khulshi Police Station. Tumpa, however, said they do not know why her husband was abducted and is being tortured.

Sheikh Nasir Uddin, officer-in-charge of the police station, said they are investigating the incident.

Anwar Hossain, an additional deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said they neither detained the three nor raided the area on March 24.