Prothom Alo staff abducted, tortured by unidentified youths, freed after Tk2 lakh ransom payment

A group of unidentified youths abducted and tortured an employee of Bangla daily Prothom Alo in Mymensingh on Thursday night (26 December).

The employee, identified as Abul Bashar, the daily's regional manager (circulation) for Mymensingh, was later left blindfolded and hands tied near the Trishal area of the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway after a ransom payment of Tk2 lakh, reports Prothom Alo.

Bashar, who has been working for the newspaper for 15 years, filed a written complaint over the incident at Kotowali Model Police Station in the district yesterday (28 December).

The complaint reads that at around 7:45pm Thursday, Bashar was heading for his home in Gazipur after finishing the day's work. As he reached the Digharkanda Bypass intersection of the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, three unidentified youths, aged between 30-35, approached him. Two of the youths started a conversation with him, asking him if he worked for Prothom Alo.

When they confirmed his employment, they started talking about buying newspapers and took Bashar to a nearby car saying that someone in the car wanted to talk to him about the proposal. As Bashar reached the car, they pushed him inside the car.

"At the time there was a person in the backseat of the car without a driver. Two of the youths got inside the car while another one left the scene," reads the report.

Bashar said the miscreants took him to a white private car and tied his eyes and hands. They also tried to strangle him with a muffler. "They wounded different parts of the body, including hands, feet, knees, head, face, with an iron object.

"At one stage of the beating, the group of youths in the car kept saying, 'Boss has ordered to kill you. You guys have become too bold'," Bashar was quoted as saying by Prothom Alo.

The abductors then searched him and took his documents, Tk15,000 cash, credentials for his bKash and Nagad accounts, and an ATM card. However, as they could not find any money in the MFS accounts, they beat him again.

"If you want to live, you will have to pay Tk5 lakh as ransom. Otherwise, we will kill you as per the boss's order and take your kidneys," Bashar said quoting the abductors.

At one stage, the miscreants finalised the ransom to be Tk2 lakh.

The abductors later contacted Bashar's brother-in-law Abul Kalam Azad and sent two bKash and two Nagad account numbers to send the ransom via SMS. Tk2 lakh was sent to these numbers from a total of nine MFS accounts.

Bashar said he was left blindfolded and his hand tied near the Chelerghat Bridge at around 10pm after the ransom was paid.

"You won't live if you tell anyone about this," Bashar said quoting the men before they left.

He was later rescued by an easybike driver, who put him in a Mymensingh-bound bus. He later took treatment at a local hospital.

Meanwhile, speaking about the incident, Kotowali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Shafiqul Islam said, "We started working seriously after receiving the written complaint. All necessary steps are being taken."

Mymensingh Superintendent of Police Kazi Akhtar ul Alam also assured to take necessary actions.