Abductors beat up Farhad Mazhar
Immediately after picking him up in a white microbus, the abductors beat up Farhad Mazhar, according to the detective branch (DB) of police.
In the wee hours of Monday, poet, essayist and political analyst Mazhar was picked up from his Shyamoli residence while he reportedly went out to buy some medicine.
"You are over-doing things," they shouted at Mazhar who, however, managed to call her wife Farida Akhtar over his cell phone.
After snatching the cell phone, the abductors blindfolded him, and kept him like that throughout the journey from Dhaka till he was freed in Khulna in the evening.
Farhad Mazhar said this during the interrogation by DB officials who interrogated him for about two hours on Minto Road DB office on Tuesday.
After being rescued from Abhoynagar of Jessore, Farhad Mazhar was taken first to the Adabar police station in Dhaka.
From there, he was taken to DB office on Minto Road for interrogation.
Joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Krishna Pada Roy, joint commissioner of DB police Abdul Baten and Tejgaon zone police deputy commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker were present during the interrogation.
"We are verifying Farhad Mazhar's statements," joint commissioner Abdul Baten told Prothom Alo on Wednesday.
They wanted to know whether Farhad Mazhar went out on his own accord or someone called him over cell phone? Why did he go out so early in the morning?
During the interrogation, Farhad said he was going towards the pharmacy adjacent to Dhaka Central Medical College Hospital in Shyamoli to buy medicine for his eyes and to walk. When he reached to a lane near Golden Street, a white microbus stopped near him and three men got down and picked him up in the microbus.
How did Mazhar manage to make a cell phone call to his wife?
In his statement to police, Farhad Mazhar said," Two men sat on both side of me. After closing the door, they slapped and scolded me. They said you are over-doing things."
"When the microbus turned left from the Shyamoli intersection, at one stage I made a phone call to my wife and whispered they would kill me. Then they snatched the cell phone and blindfolded me".
About ransom, Mazhar said first they claimed Tk1 or 2 crore, later they demanded Tk35 lakh within a day. They held the phone in his ear and asked him to inform his wife. Then the abductors snatched the phone.
"I attempted to use phone frequently so that I can be tracked easily. I could not realise in which direction the vehicle was going as I was blindfolded".
During the interrogation, Farhad Mazhar said, "The microbus did not stop till it reached Khulna. They got me down at around 7:00pm in Khulna. While freeing me in Khulna, they said they were staying to a somewhere close by. They asked me to go straight to Dhaka."
"The abductors gave me a bus ticket of Dhaka-bound Hanif Paribahan. Do not disclose anything to anybody, they threatened. They did not create pressure on me for paying the ransom," Mazhar said in his statement.
Asked why he carried the bag.
Farhad said, "The bag is with me all the time. They did not touch it. After being freed in Khulna, I went to the Hanif counter in a rickshaw. I had my cell phone in my bag, but it had no charge. I charged my phone at the counter".
Why did not Mazhar make a call after getting in the bus?
Farhad said, " I had no sense and no energy to make phone calls".
According to family members, Farhad Mazhar carries a bag all the time. He keeps essentials in his bag.
Farhad Mazar also gave judicial statements before the court under section 164 on Tuesday. He gave almost similar statements as he had given to the law enforcers.
In the judicial statement, Farhad Mazhar said, "I did not know the people who picked me up. It seems to me that those who do not like the present government, picked me up to embarrass the government at home and abroad".
The court recorded his deposition and permitted him to go home on his own accord on Tuesday.
His family members said Farhad Mazhar seemed to be exhausted when he was rescued.
Farhad Mazhar has been undergoing treatment at BIRDEM (Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Metabolic Disorders).
His family members said Mazhar is recovering gradually.
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*The report originally published in Prothom Alo Bangla print edition has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam.