In recent months, the city of Narayanganj – a key business hub – has seen murders, abductions and forced disappearances spike significantly, for which scared residents blamed the administration’s insincerity.
In the last three months alone, at least 45 dead bodies have been recovered from various points in the city – that has been turned into a corporation a couple of years ago – and its outskirts.
When counted from March 2013, the number of reported incidents of murder and abduction stands at a staggering 119, police said.
Although police claimed to have made good progress in probing some of these incidents, local residents said absolutely nothing had been unearned about the 45 dead bodies found this year; neither had law enforcers succeeded in rescuing any of the abducted.
The most cases of abductions have been reported from the Fatullah, Shiddhirganj, Rupganj, Sonargaon and Araihazar areas in the city. Sources in the local police said most of these disappearances were results of land disputes, collision of financial interests, personal and political conflicts and extramarital affairs.
The residents of the city, who have until now been passively experiencing the criminal activities, finally took to the streets to express their anger after the dead bodies of six people, including local ward councillor Nazrul Islam, were found in a canal in the city yesterday. Furious protesters blockaded an important city road, vandalised buses and set fire to several petrol pumps, yesterday.
The six people were allegedly abducted from the city on Sunday and police reportedly had no clue regarding their whereabouts until their bodies had been found.
Not all cases of alleged abduction, murder and forced disappearance get equal focus. The recent abduction of AB Siddique, husband of environmental lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hassan, fetched a lot of media focus.
Two weeks ago, Siddique, who was involved with the garments-making business in Narayanganj, was dramatically abducted from Fatullah in broad daylight and released a few days later in Dhaka.
He said he did not have any idea why he was abducted; neither did police have any idea about the identity of the abductors.
On March 8 last year, teenager Tanvir Ahmed Twoki’s dead body was found in the Sitalakkhya River, adjacent to the city. He was the son of one of the organisers of the local Gonojagoron Moncho. Not much progress has been made in the probe of that death either.
Rafiur Rabbi, convener of the Twoki Moncho – formed to protest the unsolved murder mystery – blamed the local administration and the government for the spike in criminal activities in the city.
“None gets punished for their crime. This is encouraging the criminals to commit further misdeeds,” he said.
Three months ago, Awami League leader Kamal from the Sonargaon area disappeared. Law enforces are yet to trace anything about his disappearance.
In January, police recovered the body of 14-year-old schoolboy Rakibul Islam Imon, packed inside a sack, from a pond in the city 35 days after he had been abducted.
On the 21st of the same month, schoolchildren Jahidul Islam and Sakin Alam were allegedly abducted from the Kachpur area of Sonargaon. Five days later, police recovered their dead bodies from inside a sack at the Sadipur area of Vargaon Bheribadh.
On February 1, police recovered the dead body of schoolchild Nayem Mia, 14, from the Bhingrab area of Rupganj of the city. On April 4, the body of university teacher Rajib Ahmed was recovered from the Rupganj area.
The 8km stretch of land beside the road linking the Dhaka-Narayanganj Highway and Rupganj was a safe place for dumping dead bodies, sources said.
Refuting the allegations, Shahidul Islam, an additional police super of Narayanganj, said police had uncovered the mystery surrounding most of the criminal cases that took place last year and claimed to have arrested a number of criminals.
He however did not make any clear comment when asked about the murders and abductions that took place in the last three months.
Shahidul also told the Dhaka Tribune that: “Around seven to eight lakh people work in this small city. It is very difficult to know the identities of these people. Moreover, it gets even more difficult to track down crimes when factory workers and day labourers get into conflicts centring extra-marital affairs.”
He said local police had strengthened vigilance and that the situation was now under control.