A probe body of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, which was formed to investigate the role of law enforcement agencies in connection with the abduction of the port city’s gold trader Mridul Chowdhury, has failed to identify the culprits behind the abduction.
The probe committee also did not find any connection of Rapid Action Battalion or Detective Branch personnel being involved with the abduction, although the abductors identified themselves as RAB and DB officials during the incident, said probe body sources.
Banaz Kumar Majumdar, additional commissioner (crime and operation) of the CMP and chief of the probe committee, forwarded the probe report to the Police Headquarters yesterday.
Banaz said the committee had not found any involvement of law enforcers with the abduction, while the kidnappers of Mridul could also not be identified.
“I hope everything will be revealed in the investigation of the case, which was lodged regarding the abduction,” he added.
A member of the probe committee, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the report also criticised the files and documents preserving system of the RAB for being defective.
Gold trader Mridul was abducted from in front of his residence in Chittagong city on February 11, while his abductors released him in Comilla on February 17.
Mridul, before his abduction, had lodged a lawsuit with Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court against Major Rakibul Amin of RAB-2, RAB source Dipu and Mridul’s driver Babul, accusing them of robbing about 80 tolas of gold.
Soon after the lawsuit, armed people identifying themselves as law enforcers picked up Mridul from his home, the gold trader’s relatives claimed.
Mridul, in his confessional statement recorded by a Chittagong court on February 19, said a group of five or six people introducing themselves as RAB members and DB officials picked him up and took him on a black microbus.
The victim’s family alleged that Major Rakibul Amin, deputy director of RAB-2, was involved with the abduction as Mridul lodged a lawsuit against him.
Major Rakibul and Mridul gave their statements before the probe body on March 5.
Major Rakibul refuted the allegation against him, while Mridul said the abductors asked him repeatedly during his captivity why he had lodged the case against RAB officials.
Earlier on March 2, the CMP formed a three-member probe body as per the order of Police Headquarters to investigate the role of law enforcement agencies in connection with the abduction, while the committee was asked to submit its report within a week.
