Rangamati hostages freed

The eight villagers who were among the 15 abducted by an armed gang from Rajdwip area in Rangamati were freed yesterday, police said.
Saiful Islam, officer in-charge of Rangamati Kotwali Police Station, told this correspondent last night that the gang had released the hostages around 7:30pm. Contacted, they refused to comment about anything.
The 15 villagers are Sujat Chakma, Shoibal Dewan, Probal Dewan, Suprakash Chakma, Anni Chakma, Nipam Marma Shukra, Sadhan Chakma, Suvas Chakma, Nirupam Chakma, Rupayan Chakma, Sindhu Chakma, Biswanath Chakma, Swapan Chakma, Bipul Chakma and Kakya Chakma.
The abductors came to Lechubagan of Rajdwip in an engine boat around 8:00pm Wednesday and took all the 15 into the deep forest, said OC Saiful Islam.
However, Sadhan, Nirupam, Suvas, Shoibal, Probal, Anni and Biswanath were released by night.
Kalyan Chakma, councillor of Rangamati municipality, said, "We have communicated with the kidnappers and urged them to free the rest of the villagers." He could neither identify the abductors nor explain why they had kidnapped the villagers.
Last night, Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity in a press release blamed its rival United People's Democratic Front for the abduction.
CHT chapter of Bangladesh Indigenous People's Forum was going to organise a rally at Rangamati yesterday morning marking International Indigenous Day.
The UPDF ordered the people of nearby villages not to attend the programme. The kidnapping was aimed at creating terror in the town in a bid to foil the indigenous day event, the press release said.
However, UPDF refuted the allegations.