Three leaders of Jubo Shakti, the youth wing of the National Citizen Party (NCP), were detained in Dinajpur on Monday over allegations of kidnapping and extortion, police said.
The suspects were detained along with the alleged victim from the Gor-e-Shahid Boro Math area of Dinajpur town on Monday afternoon, according to Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nurnabi of Dinajpur Kotwali Police Station.
The detainees are Arif Mun, central joint organizational secretary of Jubo Shakti, and two of his associates—Hasin Israk, 22, and Azmir Hossain, also known as Prem, 22, both residents of the Baluadanga area of Dinajpur town.
The alleged victim, Abdus Samad, 54, is a resident of Khoshalpur in Dinajpur Sadar upazila.
According to police, Samad's son, Mamun, filed a complaint on Sunday night alleging that his father had been kidnapped.
The complaint said Samad was staying at his second wife's house in the Gopalganj Panchmile area of Dinajpur town when a group of 12 to 14 people arrived at around 9pm. Two members of the group identified themselves as Rubel, 35, and Rohan, 30.
The group allegedly assaulted Samad, threatened him, and forced him into a microbus before taking him away.
Acting on the complaint, police rescued Samad from the Gor-e-Shahid Boro Math area on Monday afternoon and detained the three Jubo Shakti leaders.
Police said NCP leaders and activists later gathered at Dinajpur Kotwali Police Station and attempted to secure the release of the detainees. According to police and witnesses, a scuffle broke out between several police officers and NCP leaders during the incident.
Several district-level NCP leaders told reporters that Samad is involved in land transactions.
According to their account, Samad had taken Tk450,000 from Mujibur Rahman, a relative of Azmir Hossain, after promising to secure ownership of a piece of land. They alleged that Samad later failed to transfer ownership and that legal cases were subsequently filed against Mujibur and others.
The NCP leaders said Azmir discussed the matter with other party members before bringing Samad from his residence on Sunday night and demanding repayment of the money.
They claimed Samad's son was scheduled to repay the money on Monday afternoon but instead filed a kidnapping complaint with police.
OC Nurnabi said preliminary findings suggest the incident involved a financial dispute.
"A case is currently being processed in connection with the incident," he said.
