Mridul was asked why he filed case

Recently rescued goldsmith of Chittagong Mridul Kumar Chowdhury has said he was brutally beaten up and given electric shock by his kidnappers while being held hostage.
Mridul, who was rescued from Comilla early Monday six days after being picked up by a group of men identifying themselves as detective police and Rab personnel from in front of his residence at Hazari Lane in Chittagong, made these comments to journalists after recording a statement before a Chittagong magistrate yesterday.
Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Syed Mashfiqul Islam recorded the statement under Section 164 in a case filed by Mridul's brother in connection with the kidnap.
While torturing him, the kidnapers asked him why he had filed a case over snatching gold to the tune of 80 tola from his driver in the capital in October last year, Mridul told journalists.
The goldsmith had filed the case on December 3 last year against three people which included an officer named Major Rajibul Amin of the Rapid Action Battalion-2.
Mridul, however, said he could not recognise the kidnappers as he was kept blindfolded almost the whole time.
Describing his kidnap, he said on February 11, when he stepped out of his residence to go to his shop around 10:30am, a group of men, introducing themselves as Rab and DB personnel, picked him up in a black microbus, placed a mask over his face, tied his hands and held his head down so that people could not see him in the vehicle.
"After around half an hour, they shifted me to another vehicle. After a while they again changed the car, which stopped after two or three hours of the journey. Then the kidnappers took their lunch and again rode for three to four hours before transferring me to a fourth vehicle, which halted after a while," Mridul continued.
"The kidnappers then pulled me out of the car, dragged me up a few flights of stairs into a room. There they kept me handcuffed. I could hear the sounds of airplanes, motor vehicles and train whistles from the room," he said.
On Friday afternoon, he was taken to another room and hung by his hands. Then the kidnappers started beating him.
“When I asked them what my fault was, they kept asking why I had filed the case,” Mridul said.
After a few minutes, however, he lost consciousness.
"When I regained my senses, they took me to another room and gave me electric shocks. Then they started beating me again, below my knees," Mridul went on.
“One of them asked me what I did. When I told them that I was a businessman, they asked why then I was getting so much news coverage,” said Mridul.
Later, they left Mridul at a paddy field at Kangsanagar in Comilla in the early hours of Monday.
ACCUSED IN MRIDUL'S CASE MISSING: FAMILY
Meanwhile, the family members of Fahad Chowdhury Dipu, who was accused in the mugging case filed by Mridul Kumar Chowdhury, yesterday alleged that Fahad had been missing since January 15.
They claimed that a group of unidentified people kidnapped Fahad from Motijheel area on January 15 and he had not returned home yet.
At a press conference at Chittagong Press Club yesterday, Fahad's elder brother Kamruzzaman Chowdhury Titu said Fahad, 29, was a stone trader and came to Dhaka on business-related work. On January 15, a group of six to seven men came out of a Nissan Patrol sedan car and picked up Fahad from Kamalapur Balurmath area around 10:30am.
They urged the administration to take immediate steps to find out Fahad, who hails from Sandwip upazila and currently lives at Halishahar in Chittagong.