Ex-husband masterminded NBR official’s abduction

The recent abduction of a female National Board of Revenue official was masterminded by her ex-husband, Rab said after arresting the prime accused.

The ex-husband hired the prime accused Masum alias Masud, 42, who until recently used to work as the driver of the victim, to carry out the abduction.

Masum and his two associates -- Hafiz, 48, and Abdul Jalil Panu, 48 -- were arrested from Sreepur of Gazipur and Sabujbagh of Dhaka last night, Khandaker Al Moin, director of the legal and media wing of Rab, said at a press briefing at the Rab Media Centre today.

After preliminary interrogation, Rab said Masum earlier worked as the NBR official's private car driver till he was sacked over misbehaviour on August 1.

Recently, the victim's ex-husband contacted Masum and said he would give him a handsome amount of money if he abducted and took his former wife to a house rented by him in Hatirjheel area, said the Rab official.

Read more

‘Abduction’ of NBR official: Sacked driver the key suspect

The ex-husband wanted to "teach her a lesson" and initially gave Tk 70,000 to Masum."

After receiving the money, Masum informed his associates Hafiz, Panu, Raju, Sabbir, Saiful and Shanto about the plan and distributed the money among them.

They decided to abduct the victim from the capital's Bailey Road. Hafiz got information about the NBR official's location from her present driver, whom he knew.

According to the plan, they took position in Bailey Road area . When the victim reached there in her microbus around 8:00pm on August 17, Masum and his gang blocked the road by placing a motorcycle and a rickshaw on the microbus's path.

When the driver got down to move the motorcycle and rickshaw, the gang assaulted him. Masum took control of the car and advanced towards Hatirjheel, Moin said quoting the prime accused.

But when they went there, they found the main gate of the house locked, so they took her to a garage in Kanchpur area, tortured the victim and demanded a ransom of Tk 50 lakh.

She managed to escape the next day, 18 hours after the abduction, the Rab official said.

On August 19, the official filed a case against seven people for abduction, torture and ransom but her ex-husband was not an accused, according to police.

Asked whether the law enforcers will arrest the ex-husband, the Rab official said it was now the decision of Ramna police since a case in connection with the incident was filed with the police station.