TDS Desk:

A gang has collected ransom after abducting an employee of Prothom Alo working in Mymensingh. The incident occurred last Thursday night.

A written complaint in connection with this has been filed with the Kotwali Model police station in Mymensingh on Saturday evening.

Victim Abul Bashar has been working as a regional manager (circulation) in Mymensingh for almost 15 years.

The written complaint states that after finishing work at the office in Mymensingh town, Abul Bashar started for his home in Gazipur around 7:45 pm on the night of 26 December.

He was stopped by three men, aged between 30 and 35, unacquainted to him at Digharkanda Bypass intersection on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Mymensingh. Two of them started conversing with Abul Bashar.

After being confirmed that he works for Prothom Alo, they started talking about buying newspapers. Telling him that someone sitting inside a car parked nearby would like to speak to him on this matter. Three members of the gang led Bashar to the car.

He was tricked into getting in the car there. Apart from the driver, there was another man sitting in the backseat of the car at the time. Two of those, who had led Bashar towards the car, also boarded the car leaving one of them at the scene of the abduction.

Abul Bashar said that the abductors picked him up in a white sedan. They had then blindfolded him after tying up his hands. He was also gagged with a muffler he had on him.

His captors wounded him on different parts of his body including hands, legs, knees, face and head with an iron-made object. While beating him up the gang of men started saying, “Boss has given us the order to kill you. You people have gone out of hands.”

Abul Bashar added that the miscreants then searched his pockets and backpack. They snatched his bank ATM card, driving license, motorcycle documents, Tk 15,700 in cash from his wallet and a cellphone.

They had also made him share his ATM card, bKash and Nagad account passwords with them and started beating him up again as there was no money in them.

At one point they said, “If you want to live you have to pay Tk 500,000 as ransom. Otherwise, we’ll kill you and harvest your kidney as ordered by the boss.”

After negotiating, the captors decided on a ransom of Tk 200,000.

The criminals contacted Abul Bashar’s brother-in-law Abul Kalam Azad later.

Abul Kalam Azad told Prothom Alo that two bKash and two Nagad account numbers were sent to them via SMS between 8:34 pm and 9:23 pm. A total of Tk 200,000 was sent to those numbers from nine different accounts.

Abul Bashar said that the miscreants after receiving the ransom left him tied-up and blindfolded beside Chelerghat Bailey Bridge on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Trishal of Mymensingh around 10:00 pm.

While leaving him there they threatened him with his life against reporting this to anyone that night.

An easybike (three wheeler auto rickshaw) driver rescued him and helped him get on a Mymensingh-bound bus from Trishal bus stand.

He then went to get treatment at the emergency department of the hospital. He’s unable to fathom who did this to him and why.

Officer-in-charge (OC) of Mymensingh Kotwali Model police station Md Shafiqul Islam Khan said, “We have started investigating the incident with due seriousness after receiving the written complaint. All types of necessary steps are being taken.”

Meanwhile, superintendent of police (SP) in Mymensingh Kazi Akhter Ul Alam has promised to take necessary measures. Source: Prothom Alo