C T Online Desk: Nayem Uddin, District Correspondent : In Lakshmipur, allegations of harassment by staging a kidnapping drama, demanding a large ransom and threatening to kill journalist Kazi Maqchudul Haque and his associates have been made.
Mohammad Salim, a Qatari expatriate businessman, made these allegations in a press conference organized at the city’s Heritage Convention Center on Tuesday (April 20) morning.
In a written statement at the press conference, Mohammad Salim, a resident of Ward No. 10 of the municipality, said that his son Shahi Kanan is an HSC candidate of Lakshmipur Government College. An influential group is systematically targeting his son and trying to hold the entire family hostage.
Expatriate Salim complained that about 5-6 months ago, a group of youths led by Kazi Maqchudul Haque’s niece Mehraj kidnapped her son and took him to a house in Happy Road area. There, Kanan was physically tortured and demanded a ransom of Tk 20 lakh. Later, he was released on bond on a white paper, but the threats and extortion attempts of the accused did not stop.
Giving more sensational information in the press conference, Salim claimed that after failing to collect the demanded money, Maqchudul Haque used his own daughter to create an artificial relationship with Kanan and created great pressure for marriage.
On the morning of April 1, the girl went to Selim’s house in a planned manner and called Kanan, which is clearly evidenced in the CCTV footage, he said. Kanan was then arrested from Cox’s Bazar after filing a false case that the girl had been abducted.
However, the girl’s confession in the court did not reveal the truth of the abduction. Although the court granted bail to Kanan, Maqchud and his accomplices are still regularly threatening the family with death.
This businessman also accused Kazi Makchudul of dominating the area and acquiring a large amount of illegal wealth through political influence. At the same time, it was mentioned in the press conference that Makchudul’s wife Fatema Tuz Zohra is abusing her power by working as an engineer in Sadar Upazila Public Health Engineering Directorate.
Aggrieved expatriate businessman Mohammad Salim sought the intervention of higher authorities of the administration to ensure the safety of his family and get justice for this planned harassment.
