A 16-year-old Hefazat-e-Islam activist, whose family claimed that he had been “killed” during the Shapla Chattar clash with police last year, has now been found alive in Chittagong.
The Detective Branch of Chittagong Metropolitan Police on Wednesday traced down and detained Al Faruk, who went missing following the clash on May 5 last year.
A DB team found Faruk in Chittagong city’s Miskin Shah Mazar, while he was handed over to his maternal uncle yesterday afternoon, said DB Sub-Inspector Sontosh Kumar Chakma.
Faruk – who used to study in class five at a madrasa in Dhaka’s Badda area – had run away to the port city after the Shapla Chattar incident, the SI said, adding that the teenager had been hiding in different shrines across the district during the past 19 months.
However, the police gave no explanation on why Faruk had chosen to stay in hiding for so long.
Faruk, son of Solaiman Bin Mobarak from Comilla’s Chandina, was assumed to have died after joining Hefazat’s May 5 rally in Motijheel. At the time, Faruk’s family had also held a funeral for the madrasa student.
However, Faruk recently phoned his mother, who became suspicious and lodged a complaint with the DB on December 10 thinking someone was trying to scam her using her son’s identity.
