Our Chittagong Correspondent :
Gold trader Mridul Chowdhury was recovered from Comilla early on Monday, after he went missing six days ago from in front of his home in Chittagong city.
Confirming the news, Sub-Inspector Kamruzzaman of Chittagong Kotwali police station, told The New Nation that unidentified miscreants left Chowdhury near a paddy field at the Kangshanagar Bazar in Comilla district’s Burichang upazila at midnight.
The trader waited nearly two hours there when he found a night guard, reports our Chittagong correspondent quoting the SI, who is also the investigation officer of the abduction case.
As he narrated his ordeal and sought his help, the guard took him to his residence and gave some foods. Afterward, the guard gave Mridul his cell phone for contacting his family.
He talked with his wife Shelly Chowdhury and brother Shimul Chowdhury over phone and informed them about his location, the SI said.
Shimul then brought the matter to the notice of Chittagong Kotwali Police. They requested the Burichang Police Station to take necessary action, the SI added.
Burichang police then asked the Devpur Police outpost to rescue the abducted gold trader. A team of Chittagong Kotwali police with Mridul’s wife and Shimul also went to Comilla to bring back the businessman.
Talking to the reporters at the police outpost, Mridul Chowdhury said, some unidentified persons adducted him from in front of his Chittagong residence in the morning (10am) on February 11. Introducing themselves as members of detective branch (DB) of police and RAB, kidnappers forcefully took me away by a black microbus blind folded. I was later moved to another car after an hour.
The kidnappers beat me seriously on February 14 and used to remove the mask when they gave me food. They also took me to various places. “But I am unable to tell the names of the places,” he said. In the vehicle, two kidnappers were covering me from two sides and two others were in the front seats early Monday. When the jeep came near a bazaar, they dropped me seeing the Police van. Before dropping, the criminals first remove his mask and tied his hands with cloths and rubbed liquid medicine in his both eyes. Immediately after the rubbing, he became unconscious.
“May be I remained unconscious for more than half an hour and it was raining when I awaked,” he said. Later, I found an on duty night guard and sought his help. And finally he rescued me from the spot. A group of six people introducing themselves members of Rab and DB personnel picked up Mridul Chowdhury at gunpoint from near his house at Hazari Lane of the port city on February 11 and since then he remained missing, family members claimed.
However, the family received no calls demanding any ransom in the past week. Mridul Chowdhury earlier lodged a case about the robbery of gold against RAB 2 Major Rakibul Amin and two others. Squadron Leader Nazmul Haque, a deputy director of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)-7, however denied their involvement in the incident. The elite forces did not conduct any raid in the Hazari Lane area on the very day, Haque added.
Additional Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police Bonoj Kumar Majumder also denied the allegation of DB police’s involvement in the abduction case.
Earlier, after the abduction, the jewellers and residents of Chittagong city’s Hazari Lane declared to stage a token hunger strike before Chittagong Press Club for tomorrow demanding safe return of Mridul.
Bangladesh Jewellers’ Association of Chittagong had also announced to keep their shops in Chittagong district closed for tomorrow.
