Rahima Begum, who was found after being missing for 29 days, went to Boalmari sadar union parishad office in Faridpur two days ago to collect her birth registration certificate, said chairman Md Abul Haque on Sunday.
He said: “Rahima Begum came to the union parishad on Thursday. On Suspicion after primary investigation, she was referred to a UP member. However, she did not go to the UP member and did not come to collect the certificate anymore.”
Police traced 52-year-old Rahima Begum down in Faridpur on Saturday night from the residence of Abdul Kuddus.
On September 17, she started staying at the house of Kuddus, a resident of Faridpur’s Boalmari union. Abdul Kuddus used to be a tenant at Rahima’s Khulna house.
The UP chairman said as he could not recognize her when she came for the certificate, he sent her to the UP member.
“After talking to Kuddus’s daughter and son-in-law, I came to know that Rahima took shelter in their house as she was facing some land-related dispute in her house. Police now detained three family members of Kuddus. Two of them are seriously ill. One had undergone an operation, and another was Covid positive,” he added.
Md Mosharaf Hossain, UP member of 9 no ward of Boalmari sadar union, said that though the chairman referred her to him, she did not come to him.
He also said: “Saiful Islam, councilor of 2 no ward in Khulna City Corporation is acquainted to me. When I informed him about Rahima, he told me that they will pick Rahima soon. He also asked me to keep an eye so that she could not flee away.”
Sumaiya Begum, daughter of Kuddus, said that his brother Alamin came to know about Rahima Begum through Facebook and YouTube.
“We tried to contact her daughter over the phone. A woman, who addressed her as the wife of Rahima’s son, received the call. But when I informed her about Rahima, she did not want to talk to us.”
Then, over suspicion Alamin informed the local UP member about Rahima, said Sumaiya adding that later, the UP member reported the matter to the Khulna ward councilor.
However, Rahima Begum claimed that she was abducted by four people on August 27.
She told the police that four people held a napkin to her nose and she fell senseless when she went down to bring water in front of her house in Khulna.
Khulna Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Superintendent Syed Mashfique disclosed the matter to Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.
On August 27, Rahima allegedly went missing while fetching water near her home in the Banikpara area.
Her children reportedly found her sandals, scarf and the pitcher she was carrying from the spot and reported it to the police.
As many as six people were arrested over the incident.
However, police suspect that she had left her home due to some family dispute over land.
She had been hiding at the residence of Kuddus Molla who used to live in Rahima Begum’s house on rent.
She recently had some disagreement with her second husband over various family matters, and left her home, according to police
On Thursday, Rahima was presumed dead by her daughter Maryam Mannan.
"I have just found my mother's body," Maryam Mannan, daughter of Rahima Begum, wrote in a Facebook post.