Ex-husband is the mastermind

The recent abduction of Masuma Khatun, an official of the National Board of Revenue, was masterminded by her ex-husband, Rab yesterday said after arresting three people, including the prime accused.

The victim's ex-husband, Harun-or-Rashid, a retired government official, hired prime accused Masum alias Masud, 42, who until recently had worked as the victim's driver, to carry out the abduction.

Masum and his two associates -- Hafiz, 48, and Abdul Jalil Panu, 48 -- were arrested from Gazipur's Sreepur and Dhaka's Sabujbagh on Friday night, Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing, told a press briefing at the Rab Media Centre yesterday.

So far, six people were arrested over the incident.

Masuma, a joint tax commissioner of the NBR, was abducted on August 17 from in front of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College. She managed to escaped the following day, 18 hours after the abduction.

After preliminary interrogation, Rab said Masum earlier worked as Masuma's driver but was sacked for "misbehaviour" on August 1.

Harun recently contacted Masum and said he would give him a handsome amount of money if he abducted and took Masuma to Harun's rented house in Hatirjheel area, said the Rab official.

He was allegedly angry about her second marriage and "wanted to teach her a lesson". He also made a complaint in this regard to the NBR in April.

"He initially paid Masum Tk 70,000," the official added.

After receiving the money, Masum informed his associates Hafiz, Panu, Raju, Sabbir, Saiful and Shanto about the plan to abduct her and distributed the money among them.

Hafiz was informed about Masuma's location from her present driver, whom he had known from before.

On August 17, the group took position on Bailey Road, and as the victim reached there in a microbus around 8:15pm, Masum and the others  intercepted the vehicle using a motorcycle and a rickshaw.

When the microbus driver got down to see what was going on, the group attacked him. Masum then took control of the microbus and sped towards Hatirjheel, Moin quoted the prime accused as saying.

"When they reached Harun's rented house, they found the main gate locked. So, they took her to a garage in Kanchpur area, tortured her and demanded Tk 50 lakh."

They took her to Madartek area the next morning, and Harun, the ex-husband, told Masum to take her back to the Hatirjheel house after Jum'a prayers.

"When Masum, Raju and Sabbir went out to get food, she managed to escape," Moin added.

On August 19, Masuma filed a case against seven people for abduction, torture and ransom, but her ex-husband was not included as an accused, according to police.

Asked whether the law enforcers will arrest Harun, the Rab official said the case is being investigated by Ramna police and the investigation officer may quiz or arrest him.