Rab acts fast

Confining the mother of a three-month-old baby girl to their Jinjira house in the capital's Keraniganj on Wednesday night, a man, who was known to the family, kidnapped the infant and demanded a ransom of Tk 2 lakh from the family. 

Rapid Action Battalion members, however, trapped the alleged kidnapper, Md Sumon, 31, of the same area, promising him the ransom money and rescued victim Kinara Rahman Shin around 11:30pm Thursday, over 26 hours after the abduction. 

Shin's father Shakhawat told The Daily Star that after her rescue, she caught fever and also vomited after her mother fed her. 

Officials of Rab-10 said the suspect and the girl's father knew each other for seven-eight months. 

Sumon, a mechanic by profession from Shibchar upazila of Madaripur, used to visit the house to repair items like TV and refrigerators.

Around 7:00pm on Wednesday, Suman went to Shakhawat's house and asked his wife Ritu Islam Mitu whether there was anything to do. Mitu told him that there was nothing to do, and as he was known to them she also said he could sit if he wanted.

As Sumon sat, Mitu kept her daughter in their drawing room and went to another room to bring the baby's clothes. “As she entered the room, Sumon locked the room from outside and fled with the baby,” said Jahangir Hossain Matubbar, commanding officer of Rab-10, quoting the victim's family, yesterday. 

Finding the door locked, Mitu started crying. Hearing her cry, a neighbour unlocked the room. But by that time, Sumon managed to leave the place with Shin.

Mitu then went downstairs from their sixth-floor flat hurriedly and looked for Sumon. She also informed her husband Shakhawat, a medical promotion officer of a pharmaceutical company, of the matter and he repeatedly tried to reach Sumon, but found his phone switched-off.  

Around an hour later, Sumon gave a phone call to Mitu and asked to keep Tk 2 lakh ready to get back her daughter and hand it over to him when he would ask for. He also threatened her that if she informed law enforcers, she would lose her daughter, said the Rab official.

However, the family communicated with Rab-10. The elite force arrested Sumon in Golam Bazar area of South Keraniganj and later rescued the victim from the house of one Abdul Haque in the Bazar.

Sumon told Abdul Haque's son Parvez that the child lost her mother and he adopted her, the Rab official added.

2 RESCUED IN GAZIPUR

In another development, members of Rab-1 yesterday rescued two kidnap victims from an under construction building at Technagpara in Gazipur city and arrested five in this connection. 

According to a Rab-1 press release, at gunpoint, the five abducted Mirajul Islam, 25, of Natore, and Rakibul Islam, 19, of Rajshahi, around 7:00pm on Thursday from Gazipur Chourasta area.

They then confined the victims to the first floor of the under construction building and started demanding money from their families through cell phone.

Around 4:30am yesterday, Mirajul managed to escape jumping onto sand piled outside from the first floor and informed the Gazipur Rab camp of the matter through mobile phone. He got the Rab number from a poster attached to a wall.

Later, Rab members raided the building and rescued Rakibul.

They detainned the five alleged abductors -- Rabbi Hasan Niloy, 22, Md Rakib, 20, Shakil Mollah, 21, Sohel Rana, 20, and Md Shohagh, 23 -- from the spot.

They also recovered a foreign pistol, two bullets, three knives, six mobile phones, including two of the victims, and a credit card of one of the victims, Rab release said.