Noted columnist, poet and critic Farhad Mazhar, who went missing early Monday, was released from the court on self-custody on Tuesday afternoon.
Farhad Md Mazharul Haq alias Farhad Mazhar was taken to the court to record his statement on the ‘abduction for ransom’.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate, Md. Ahsan Habib, gave the order after a hearing on a petition in this regard on the day.
The court when asked Mazhar whether he wanted to be released, he said “yes”. He was then released on a bond of Tk 10,000.
The court said it was the police’s duty to brief the counsel to record his statement ‘as the case relates to abduction and extortion’.
Earlier after being rescued from Jessore on Monday night, the much-talked writer filed a plea in a bid to get released on self-custody, said Advocate Sanaullah Mia, one of the counsels of Farhad Mazhar.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Joint Commissioner (Detective Branch) Abdul Baten told a press briefing on Tuesday that detective men quizzed Farhad Mazhar primarily at DB office around 10:45am.
The abduction victim Farhad Mazhar said in his statement that several unknown youths blindfolded and picked him up in a microbus when he went outside for buying medicine early Monday, the police official said.
Farhad Mazhar couldn’t remember anything more, he said quoting the noted writer.
The statement of Farhad Mazhar will be examined for the sake of proper investigation, the Joint-Commissioner said. He however, did not elaborate.
However, according to sources, abductors first demanded Tk 2 crore but after a bargaining Farhad Mazhar agreed to pay Tk 30-32 lakh.
Then the abductors made Mazhar to call his family members for the ransom.
“They did not give me any food during the abduction period. Later, they have given me a ticket and threatened not to talk to anybody on the issue,” Mazhar said in his statement.
After that, according to the statement, Mazhar went to Hanif Paribahan counter and took meal in a nearby hotel and then boarded on a Dhaka-bound bus.
‘Farhad Mazhar’s wife filed a General Diary (GD) on Monday. An investigation will be launched as per his statement to the court,’ said the DMP official.
Facing a voley of questions from reporters on the mysterious episode, the DB joint-commissioner said, “The investigation is going on. We need more time.”
Earlier, after bringing him back to the capital from Jessore, police initially took him to Adabar Police Station around 9:00am.
Meanwhile, Didar Ahmmed, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Khulna Range, told journalists that Farhad Mazhar was brought to Fultola Police Station around 12:am after his ‘rescue’ from a bus of ‘Hanif Paribahan’ at Nayapara in Abhaynagar upazila on Monday night.
The DIG, however, said Mazhar was not kidnapped as he had gone out of his home ‘on his own for a visit’.
Police traced Mazhar at Nayapara in Abhaynagar upazila on Monday night, 18 hours after his reported kidnapping from the capital, he claimed.
Police found him in the ‘Hanif Paribahan’ bus around 11:30pm when he was returning to Dhaka from Khulna, said Officer-in-Charge of Abhaynagar Police Station Anisur Rahman.
Farhad Mazhar was said to have been kidnapped by unknown miscreants from Shyamoli in the capital in the early hours of Monday.
Mazhar’s family reported to police that the 70-year-old Mazhar was abducted after he left his Dhaka home around 5am following a phone call.
“He then repeatedly called his wife from his phone and said he would be released for a ransom of Tk 35 lakh.”
A general diary was filed with Adabor Police Station in connection with the incident. Also a regular case was filed in connection with the abduction incident.
