The Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has launched a full investigation into the abduction on Monday of litterateur and columnist Farhad Mazhar, according to sources.
Investigators are trying to piece together the events of the 18 hours between his abduction and eventual rescue, and the motives behind the kidnapping.
From what police have learnt from the primary investigation, Farhad left his residence at 5:05am on July 3 to buy medicine from the pharmacy at the Central International Medical College and Hospital, about 100 metres from his residence in Shymoli Garden.
At 5:29am, he called his wife Farida Akhter and said:"Farida, they are kidnapping me. They are going to kill me."
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The 69-year-old was rescued by a RAB team from Noapara in Jessore at around 11:30pm. The following day, Farhad testified in front of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court Judge Ahsan Habib.
Sources said that in his testimony, Farhad said he woke up between 3am and 3:30am as usual. He then worked on his computer until 5am. Then he went out for a walk and to buy some eye drops. At this point, he was forced into a microbus by three people.
Speaking to the Bangla Tribune anonymously, a front desk official of the hospital said police and RAB had collected CCTV footage the same day Farhad had been abducted. “We no longer have that footage,” the source said.
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Al Amin, a salesman at the pharmacy who was on duty from midnight until 8am on July 3, said he did not recall anyone like Farhad entering the pharmacy, but qualified this by saying he did not know the writer and only learnt who he was after the news of his abduction broke.
After the abduction, Farhad's wife filed a general diary with Adabor police station, which was later accepted as the statement for an abduction case around 11:35pm.
“We are looking into this case from all angles, " said Assistant Deputy Commissioner (West) Golam Mostafa Rasel, who is investigating the case. "We are trying to find out why he left the house, who picked him up, how he was taken to Khulna, and how he was released.”
Farhad Mazhar is currently being treated at Birdem Hospital in Dhaka.