Abducted businessman's wife seeks PM's help

The wife of a businessman, who was allegedly abducted a week ago in the capital's Uttara, sought the prime minister's intervention from a press briefing yesterday.

"I and my two children are living a terrible life without him," said Afsana Nur Julie at Jatiya Press Club.

The abductors identified them as detectives when picking up Giasuddin Kushum, 43, the owner of a ship-breaking business in Chittagong, in a white microbus at Uttara Sector-10 on July 3, she alleged.

Julie, who travelled from her home in Chittagong to Dhaka, said they filed an abduction case with Uttara Pashchim Police Station on July 5 and also contacted high-ups at the administration but could not trace him. The case statement, however, did not mention about detectives' involvement. It says three persons, who have business dealings with Kushum, might have had him abducted.

Kushum owes around Tk 15 crore to the trio, his business adviser Rezanur Rahman told the briefing.

Muntasirul Islam, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, denied the allegation of detectives' involvement. "As far as I know, no DB team picked him up," he told The Daily Star.

Kushum was abducted while going to Panthapath for business purpose, says the complaint. He came to Dhaka on July 2 and stayed at a friend's house in Uttara.

As the taxi cab reached a bridge between Road 1 and 2 of Sector-10 around 12:30pm, two persons on a motorbike waylaid him, according to the case statement.

Later, four to five people arrived in a microbus and bundled him and the taxi driver Mohiuddin into it. The abductors blindfolded the two and forced them to wear masks. Two hours later, the abductors released the taxi driver near Bashundhara residential area.

Known to Kushum for a few days, Mohiuddin went to the house of Kushum's friend in Uttara and informed the caretaker about the matter.

Police are investigating the incident.