The administration must take legal action against Rahima Begum and her family members for playing with the people's emotions and questioning the credibility of the law enforcement agencies, said several locals after getting bail in the much-talked-about abduction case scandal.
“Rahima Begum is a litigious woman. She and her daughters -- Moriom Mannan and Aduri Begum -- filed four land-related cases against me. All proved false,” Md Gulam Kibria, an assistant engineer at Khulna University of Science and Technology (Kuet), said as he walked out of jail after a month on Tuesday.
“Finally, they implicated me in an abduction case. What a heinous act it is! I’ll take due legal action against them,” he told Dhaka Tribune, and thanked the media for revealing the truth.
Md Noor Alam Jewel, who was arrested in the case filed by Aduri Begum, said: “Rahima Begum is associated with the drug trade and women trafficking in the area.”
Jewel runs a mobile and computer training centre in the city.
He said: “The people of the country have seen how low Moriom Mannan and her family can go. The joke they made about the law enforcement agencies is also exposed through the media. Rahima Begum filed three false cases against my family and me. Legal action must be taken against them.”
Local businessman Md Mohiuddin, who was also arrested on September 4, said that they had been the victims of a conspiracy, and it was not the first time.
He demanded a probe into the allegations of drug trade and women trafficking against Rahima’s family. He said that the authorities should investigate the remains of the woman discovered in Mymensingh by Moriom.
Another accused, Rafiqul Alam Palash, described the ordeals they had to face in the "false case" filed by Rahima's daughter.
Another arrestee, Billal Hawlader alias Billal Ghatak, did not get bail as an appeal for his remand is pending with the court. He is the second husband of Rahima Begum, but the couple lives in separate houses.
The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) is probing the case. They have already visited Faridpur, where Rahima was staying at a house voluntarily and found on September 24, Bandarban and other places she had been since his disappearance on August 27.
A Khulna court on Tuesday granted bail to the four people arrested in the case filed over the alleged disappearance of Rahima Begum.
On August 27, Rahima reportedly went missing while fetching water from a tube well near her home in the Banikpara area.
Her children said they had found her sandals, scarf, and the pitcher she had been carrying at the spot and reported the incident to the police.
The police had made six arrests in the case as of September 12.
Their initial suspicion was that she had left her home due to a family dispute over land.
The entire incident escalated when Rahima’s daughter, Moriom Mannan, on September 22 claimed to have found her dead body. However, police found Rahima alive in a house in Faridpur on September 24.