Rahima was not abducted, daughter staged ‘abduction drama’: PBI

Rahima Begum, who was found alive in Faridpur in September last year, 29 days after her disappearance, was not abducted but her daughter Mariam Mannan staged the "abduction drama" in a bid to implicate their neighbour in a case over land dispute, said Police Bureau of investigation (PBI).

Syed Mushfiqur Rahman, superintendent of PBI in Khulna, revealed this at his office around 11:30am today.

The PBI submitted the investigation report to the Metropolitan Judge in the morning.

"We have not found any evidence of abduction rather, evidence showed that Mariam Mannan plotted the abduction drama in a bid to implicate their neighbour in a case over land dispute," he said.

"As part of the plan, Rahima herself went into hiding and changed her location frequently during this period. On October 27 last year, she went to Dhaka and after living there for some days, Mariam sent her to Bandarban with some clothes and medicines," said the PBI official.

Later, Rahima went to the house of one Abdul Kuddus at Boalmari in Faridpur district where police traced he.

Rahima made a statement to police that her neighbour abducted her following a land dispute, said Mushfiqur.

Later she also gave false statement accusing her neighbour in court, he said.

On August 27 last year, Rahima went missing after she had left her home in Banikpara area of Doulatpur to bring water.

The family first filed a complaint with the police, based on which the law enforcement lodged a first information report (FIR) against some people over her disappearance.

On September 13, 2022, after Rahima remained missing for 17 days and police failed to find her, her younger daughter Aduri Akter appealed to a Khulna court to transfer the case to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).

On September 24 same year, Rahima was found alive in Faridpur's Boalmari after remaining missing for 29 days.

Police arrested six people in connection with the case, and four of them were granted bail after she was found.

A Khulna court handed over Rahima to her daughter Aduri on September 25 last year.