Police are yet to trace M Maroof Zaman, a former Bangladesh ambassador to Qatar and Vietnam, who had gone missing two weeks back.
The members of law enforcement agencies say they are trying to rescue Maroof but are yet to find any clue regarding the matter.
On the other hand, family members have blamed the law enforcers for not trying to trace Maroof earnestly.
Despite all these factors, the family members are still waiting for him to return.
On December 4, Maroof left his house in Dhanmondi to pick up his daughter Samiha Zaman from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
However, the 61-year-old never reached the airport.
Also Read - No headway in tracing former diplomat Maroof
Dhanmondi police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Tariqul Islam, who was investigating the incident, was transferred a week ago.
He said: “I did not find anything during the investigation.”
“We are trying our best to rescue him but we are not getting any clue,” Dhanmondi police station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Latif said.
On the evening of December 4, Maroof called his home from an unidentified land phone number to inform the domestic help that some people would go the house to retrieve his computer, and instructed them to cooperate.
Three men, described as tall and well-dressed, visited his house about 20 minutes later and took away his laptop, home computer, camera, and spare smartphone. They also thoroughly searched his room.
Maroof’s phone has been found switched off since then. His family filed a general diary with Dhanmondi police the next day.
Police recovered his private car in an abandoned from Khilkhet that same evening. The vehicle did not have any sign of forced entry. Locals said they had seen the car since the morning.
Also Read - Former diplomat Maroof’s last known whereabouts tracked
Members of the law enforcement agencies also retrieved CCTV footage of Maroof’s residence in which three men were seen entering the house and leaving shortly afterwards with electronic devices. They wore caps and had their faces obscured with masks to conceal their identities.
Family members think that the miscreants behind the incident might have forced Maroof to make the phone call.
Now the question arises to why the members of law enforcement agencies have not been able to identify the three men who entered the house before Maroof went missing.
Wishing anonymity, a police officer said: “Those people had hidden their face from the CCTV camera and this proves that they had idea about the cameras from before.
“It is very difficult to identify the people as the footage is not clear.”
Maroof’s daughter Samiha said: “We have not got any update about my father. We do not understand what is taking [the police] so long?
“We just want him back.”
Stating that police have failed to provide update, Maroof’s younger brother Rifaat Zaman said: “No one is saying anything. We want him back at any cost.”
Maroof has served as a counsellor at the Bangladesh High Commission in the UK. The former Foreign Ministry additional secretary is a retired Bangladesh Army captain of the Signal Corps (6th Short Course).
The recent missing incidents of Dr Mubashar Hasan Cesar, an assistant professor of North South University, and Utpal Das, a senior reporter of online news portal purbopaschimbd.com, have sparked an outcry across Bangladesh.
Utpal, who had been missing for the last two months, was dropped off by several unidentified people at Bhulota in Narayanganj on Tuesday.
Apart from Maroof and Mubashar, several journalists, businessmen, and students have gone missing in the last three months.The article was first published on Bangla Tribune
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
