Kidnapping and killing by outlaws now rampant in SW region
"If I had Tk 15 lakh, I could have bought my son's life from his captors," said Arif Hasan, the bereaved father of Mehedi Hasan Sohag who was recently abducted and killed by the cadres of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party.
The PBCP cadres kidnapped Sohag, 24, on November 1 and brutally killed him as they were not paid the ransom on deadline.
The body of Sohag was recovered from a graveyard in Taragunia area of Daulatpur upazila on Tuesday.
The law enforcers recovered two more bodies from the graveyard the same day. They found one here at Harbhanga in Gangni upazila of Meherpur last month. They suspect all three had been killed after being abducted by PBCP cadres for ransom.
The southwestern region of the country has recently seen a drastic rise in criminal activities, especially abduction which has often resulted in the killing of the abducted, and according to police, cadres of the outlawed PBCP have been involved in these incidents.
"They [outlaws] initially demanded Tk 30 lakh and after bargaining it was fixed at Tk 15 lakh...But how could I manage such a huge amount of money?" said Sohag's father Arif, who works at a private bank in Kushtia.
He filed a general diary with Kushtia Sadar Police Station on November 2 after his son had been kidnapped. But police failed to trace Sohag.
Police recovered the two other dead bodies following a confessional statement of Manik Joardar, a top PBCP cadre who was arrested on Monday in connection with the abduction.
The victims were identified as Jahangir Hossain, 38, an employee of Caritas in Dhaka, and Russell, a grocer of Jhenidah.
Police said the two also had been abducted by other groups of the outfit for ransom and killed after their families failed to pay.
Jahangir was kidnapped when he came to visit his village home in Sharsha upazila of Jessore on November 4 and Russell from Chuadanga bus stand area in Jhenidah on November 8.
The outlaws had demanded Tk 5 lakh from Jahangir's family and Tk 3 lakh from Russell's. Both were confined in a den of PBCP at Taragunia.
Police said the two might have been killed between November 15 and 20.
Earlier on November 27, Kushtia police recovered the body of businessman Kajol from Harbhanga in Gangni upazila of Meherpur. Son of Delwar Hossain of Boria in Mirpur upazila, Kajol was abducted by PBCP cadres on July 12. The criminals demanded Tk 5 lakh as ransom.
Kushtia Assistant Superintendent of Police Alamgir Hossain told The Daily Star on Thursday that a police team under his leadership raided Taragunia area on Tuesday and recovered the bodies of Sohag, Jahangir and Russell.
Police first arrested PBCP cadre Zakir in Majampur area of Kushtia town on November 26 and then Shawkat at Gangni in Meherpur on November 27. Acting on their statements, the law enforcers recovered the body of Kajol on November 27.
The same day, police arrested Wasim at Daulatpur, who revealed the name of Manik Joardar as their team coordinator.
Manik has links to a top PBCP leader who has been absconding in India, police said.
Talking to The Daily Star about the law and order situation in southwestern region, Superintendent of Police Shahabuddin Khan said, "Hardly any crime takes place in this area where cadres of these outlawed parties are not involved."
The SP expressed his determination to take all-out steps to eliminate crimes and criminals from Kushtia.
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