3 ‘missing’ people arrested

Police have arrested the education minister’s personal officer, an employee of the ministry, and the owner of a school, who reportedly went missing after being led away by unidentified people in Dhaka in past three days.

The law enforcers arrested Nurul Islam Nahid’s aide Motaleb Hossain in Mohammadpur’s Basila on Sunday night, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman.

Education ministry staffer Nasir Uddin and Lakehead Grammar School owner Khaled Hasan Matin were detained in Gulshan around the same time, Masudur said.

He said the police found Tk 130,000 in cash on Nasir.

The DMP's Detective Branch Joint Commissioner Abdul Matin said Motaleb and Nasir were detained on charges of corruption while Khaled stands accused of funding militancy.

Separate general diaries or GDs were filed with the police to report that the three had gone missing after being led away by unidentified people on microbus.

Motaleb was whisked away from his under-construction building in Basila and Khaled from in front of his institution on Saturday, according to the GDs.     

Nasir’s family said he was not heard from after he had visited an organisation in Banani last Thursday.  

He is the secretary general of Secondary and Higher Education Government Officials-Employees Welfare Association.

Education ministry officials said some unidentified people visited the house and inquired about the ministry’s administrative officer Abu Alam Khan on Saturday, leaving him in panic that ‘he might go missing’.

Abu was not available for comment.

Khaled was unreachable on his mobile phone since being led away by the unidentified people, according to the GD filed over the Lakehead school owner’s disappearance.

The education ministry in November ordered the school to close down after allegations that it was harbouring militancy and inspiring extremism surfaced.

The Supreme Court later ordered that the school reopen with a new board of directors composed of the Dhaka divisional commissioner as its chair and military officials as board members.

An education ministry official said, Motaleb and Nasir had been working in favour of the school after getting a ‘large amount of money’ from the institution’s authorities. The official requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak about the issue.

Source: bdnews24