Abducted Businessman: Freed after eight days in captivity

Eight days after being abducted from the capital's Basundhara Residential Area, businessman Sazal Chowdhury was freed in Daudkandi area of Comilla early yesterday.

“I was blindfolded and taken on a car last night [Saturday]. After roaming around different places, they [abductors] left me beside Al-Amin Mosque in Daudkandi's Gouripur at daybreak,” he said.

“While dropping me there, they gave me Tk 2,000 and warned me not to tell anything to anyone.”

Offering prayer at the mosque, he with the help of locals rented a taxi and returned home around 10:00am.

Sazal, 46, who is involved in ship-breaking business, was dragged out of his flat on the first floor of a building at Block-G on March 11 by some people who identified themselves as detectives.

Recalling the incident, he said a group of 10-12 people entered his flat, beat him up and forced him into a microbus.

They also beat the security guard of the house and took away CCTV footage. The kidnappers tied his mother Diluara Begum to a door handle before leaving the flat with Sazal.

His son Shihab Chowdhury could not hear anything as he was sleeping in another room and everything happened within five minutes, Diluara earlier told The Daily Star.

The abductors later took him to a building somewhere in Dhaka where he was beaten mercilessly, he said, adding, “They kicked me on my chest. I suffered shortness of breath and thought it was the end of my life.

“They frequently pressured me to lift the forgery and misappropriation case that I had filed against my business partner who owed me Tk 10 crore.”

Sazal claimed he was threatened to withdraw the case before the court hearing set for March 27. He has one-bigha land in Airport area and “they also demanded the land”.

“I'm frightened. I want protection,” he said.

Officer-in-Charge of Bhatara Police Station SM Kamruazaman said they interrogated Sazal.

“He will be interrogated further,” he said.