Gold trader, family silent against RAB

The family of abducted Chittagong gold trader Mridul Chowdhury have quieted down after his release despite their earlier allegation against the RAB.

The businessman after being found alive in Comilla on Monday, six days after he had gone missing, said he was kidnapped from Chittagong by a group of armed men in a black microbus.

Mridul, before his abduction, had filed a case against RAB Major Rakibul Amin, a RAB source and his own driver for looting 80 Bhori (933g) of gold.

Police are refusing to let reporters near the injured businessman after he was brought from Comilla and admitted to a hospital in Chittagong on Monday.

Mridul, however, told journalists in Comilla that his captors, who he said used to beat him badly, did not demand ransom.

Mridul’s brother Shimul Chowdhury speaking to reporters in Chittagong alluded to the case against the elite force saying, “We have past rivalry with RAB. But we don’t know if they are involved in this.”

“The kidnappers said they were members of RAB,” he had earlier stated quoting witnesses after his brother’s abduction on Feb 11.

He had filed a general diary after his brother had gone missing which later became a case of kidnap.

“It’s important to know if Mridul staged his own abduction,” RAB Additional Director General Col Ziaul Ahsan told bdnews24.com.

He thought it was strange that Mridul was getting his driver to transfer 80 Bhori of gold to Old Dhaka.

Meanwhile, the CID are in charge of investigating the case Mridul had filed before his abduction.

“RAB is also investigating the officer in question,” said Col Zia. “We will deal with him sternly if the probe finds him guilty.”

Jewelry traders in Chittagong had threatened to shut businesses across the country if Mridul was not found.

Mridul owns the Dulhan Jwellers at Chittagong’s New Market.