Photographer Shahidul picked up after Al Jazeera interview

A group of plainclothes people picked up photographer Shahidul Alam from his Dhanmondi residence on Sunday night.

The plainclothes people introduced themselves as members of the Detective Branch of police and took away Shahidul following his interview with Al Jazeera over the ongoing student agitation for safe roads, alleged Shahidul's partner Rehnuma Ahmed.

Shahidul's colleague ASM Rezaur Rahman told Prothom Alo, quoting security guard Md Jalal, that at least 15 vehicles took position near Shahidul's residence on Dhanmondi 9/A Road around 8:30pm on Sunday. 

Of them, a HiAce microbus entered the garage of the residence forcefully and the plainclothes people detained Jalal, claiming to be members of DB, he added.

They went to Shahidul's flat at the 3rd floor, picked him up and took him away in a microbus, ASM Rezaur Rahman went on saying.

Hearing Shahidul's screams, Rehnuma, who was in one of her colleague's house on the 2nd floor in the same building, came down but could not stop them taking him away, he added.

According to him, Popular Life Insurance was written on the microbus. When the plainclothes men entered the house they shut down the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and snatched away the DVR box where CCTV footages were kept, he said.

Shahidul's partner Rehnuma said that she lodged a complaint with Dhanmondi police station and would file an abduction case. Police visted their house after she filed the complaint filing, she added.

On-duty sub-inspector Mahidul Islam of Dhanmondi police station confirmed her complaint o Prothom Alo.

Meanwhile, popular YouTuber Salman Muqtadir was allegedly picked up by a group of people from TV station in the capital's Tejgaon. He was, however, released after an hour, said Salman's mother.