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Published : 12 Jul 2017, 11:52 PM
The 70-year-old poet was found on a bus headed to Dhaka from Jessore by the police and the Rapid Action Battalion almost 18 hours after he went missing in the capital on Jul 3.
Mazhar during his testimony in court said he was abducted from outside his home in Shyamoli and taken to Khulna.
The dramatic disappearance and discovery of the prominent government critic sparked debate among politicians and social media users.
That is when the police produced one Archana Rani in court on Jul 10 after allegedly having traced her through their investigation of Mazhar's disappearance.
Rani identified herself as a follower of the poet and then told court that Mazhar left home on the day of his disappearance to get money for her, which he also managed to send to her.
"The information provided by a woman has matched the police's investigation of the Farhad Mazhar incident," Detective Branch Assistant Commissioner Hafiz Al Asad, investigator for the abduction case filed by Mazhar's wife, told bdnews24.com.
Earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Police chief Md Asaduzzaman Mia said detectives are suspicious of the account provided by Mazhar.
Law enforcers have been expressing suspicion about the authenticity of Mazhar's abduction claim since they discovered him on the bus.
A security footage of him loitering in the New Market area in Khulna in the afternoon of his disappearance further fuelled police's suspicion, said the DMP chief.
The account he provided to court is inconsistent with the evidence of the day gathered from CCTV footage, call records and other findings, he said.
"We'll not say anything on this matter," Mazhar's wife Farida Akhter told bdnews24.com when asked for comment on several claims made by the police.
He had called his wife asking her to manage ransom money after leaving home in the early hours of Jul 3. He told court kidnappers forced him into a microbus while he was out buying medicine.
The police primarily found his trace in Khulna after getting his family's complaint filed with Adabor police.
While the police raid on two locations in Khulna in the evening yielded no results, one Abdul Mannan who owns 'New Grill House' in the town's New Market area claimed seeing Mazhar eat at his restaurant.
He had bought the ticket to Dhaka using the name 'Gofur', Nazmus Sadat Sadi, the counter manager for Hanif Enterprise in Khulna's Shibbarhi, said during his testimony in court.
"It will take at least two days before we reach a concrete situation. We will provide details in a media briefing," said DMP chief Asaduzzaman Mia.
Archana gave statement to a court on July 10 under Section 164 of the CrPC that allows magistrates to record confessions of any person which can be used as evidence in trial.
She described herself as a ‘Bhakta’ and ‘Sebadasi’ of Mazhar, her ‘Gurudeb’.
According to the statement, Archana left her home in Pirojpur’s Mathbarhia in 2005 after a quarrel with her father by the end of 2005 and went to her maternal uncle’s house in the same district.
She joined Farhad Mazhar’s NGO Ubinig or Policy Research for Development Alternative in 2006 or 2007.
She was introduced to Mazhar while working at the NGO’s Cox’s Bazar chapter and became a follower of his ‘Fakir and Baishnab’ ideal. She became a ‘Sebadasi’ or servant of Mazhar at the time.
She claimed to have developed physical relationship with Mazhar when she was in Ishwardi.
She was fired from Ubinig after Farida Akhter came to know about their relationship in 2009. But Mazhar continued communicating with her and helping her financially.
Archana said in the statement that she became pregnant with Mazhar's child and had an abortion at a clinic in Dhaka’s Malibagh around two years ago. Mazhar bore the medical expenses, she said.
According to Archana, Farhad Mazhar became ‘worried as he had no money’ when she demanded some after ‘becoming pregnant’ again in April this year.
“Gurubaba called me on the phone at 6:20am on July 3 and said he had gone out to manage money for me. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said,” reads the statement.
“He said there was no problem and he was well when I called him on his mobile phone at 11am that day and asked whether he had been abducted,” she said in the statement.
“He called me around 7pm and asked for an account number. I gave him that and he sent Tk 15,000 from two numbers.
“Later he asked me whether I had received the money. I checked my mobile phone after returning home and confirmed the receipt,” she added.
Archana claimed she spoke to Mazhar by phone five to six times the day before he ‘went missing’ and two to three times on that day.
Detective Hafiz said Archana is not pregnant now.
Where is Archana now?
Archana Rani could not be traced after she gave statement to the court.
The police, who took her from Chittagong’s Rangunia, now say they do not know her whereabouts.
She said in the statement that she went to Rangunia on July 4 and police detectives took her to Dhaka on July 9.
The police later brought her mobile phone and a diary from her home.
Rangunia Police Station OC Imtiaz Bhuiyan told bdnews24.com that police personnel from Dhaka took Archana away from the house of her relative at Hazarihat in Parua on the night on July 9.
“I know nothing more than this,” he said.
Detective Hafiz said they found a woman’s number on the call list of Farhad Mazhar’s mobile phone.
“He talked to the women several times. The police later brought the woman to Dhaka,” he said.
The court permitted Mazhar to go home after he gave the statement. Archana also went home after giving the statement, the police said.
“We didn’t keep her in custody,” said DB Assistant Commissioner Hafiz.
No one named Archana was found in the area.
A rice-seller in the area, ‘Dipali’, said she was the only Hindu woman involved in the business in Bhatara and she does not know Archana.
Bhatara Police Station OC Nurul Muttakim said he did not have any record with any rice-seller going by the name of Archana.
She could not be found in Pirojpur either.
Locals at Dakshin Sonakhali village of Amragachhia said Shankar Kumar Mitra’s daughter Archana was staying outside the area for a long time.
Amragachhia union council Chairman Ibrahim Khalil Farazi toild bdnews24.com Archana comes to the area to see her ailing father after long gaps.
“She works in Dhaka. That’s all we know about her,” he said.
Mathbarhia Police Station OC KM Tariqul Islam said they did not know ‘much about’ Archana.
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