No signs yet that Farhad Mazhar was abducted, IGP says

Initial investigation suggests that the disappearance of columnist and activist Farhad Mazhar was not a case of abduction, says the Bangladesh Police chief.

"Based on what we have gathered so far, we think it was not abduction," Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said on Saturday.

His remarks came while speaking to the media in Dhaka after a seminar.

"More evidence is needed to come to a conclusion. It might take two or three days," added Hoque.

Known as a rightist activist and staunch government critic, Mazhar was found on a bus in Jessore while travelling from Khulna to Dhaka, 18 hours after he went missing from the capital on the morning of Jun 3.

His family alleged in a police complaint, which was later recorded as a case, that he was abducted after leaving home early that morning.

Police tracked his mobile and conducted a search operation in the southwest region of the country in the evening. The Rapid Action Battalion or RAB said he was found on the bus in Jessore later in the night.

He was brought back to Dhaka the next morning and questioned at the Detective Branch offices before being produced in court.

The court allowed him to return home after his statement was recorded in a magistrate's chamber.

Detectives said Mazhar told them that some people had picked him up on a microbus when he went out to buy medicine.