Shafik Rehman’s wife Taleya Rehman says police picked up her husband posing as journalists

Arrested Shafik Rehman’s wife Taleya Rehman has claimed that Detective Police Branch officials entered their Eskaton house introducing themselves as media personnel and as such she is now unable to trust anyone who are identifying themselves as journalists.

After Rehman was picked up on Saturday morning, Taleya with a lump in her voice said, “TV journalists have been made objects of suspicion. I will no longer allow anyone (to enter my house).”

 

Shafik Rehman is known to be close to the BNP while Taleya is the executive director of NGO 'Democracy Watch' and a former BBC journalist.

 

She earlier told reporters that three men entered their house, identifying themselves as reporters of private TV channel Boishakhi, on the pretext of interviewing her husband.

 

“They had no prior appointment and were only carrying a digital camera, which made me a bit suspicious,” she said. However, they were told to wait at Democracy Watch’s office.

 

Rehman’s security guard Matin Molla told bdnews24.com that one of those three after giving him a visiting car had asked him to give it to Rehman.

 

“After seeing it, Sir (Rehman) told me to give it to Madam (Taleya). As I was returning from the second floor, I saw Sir coming down and the three men coming up. They took the card back saying they were from DB.

 

“They then whisked Shafik sir away in the microbus parked in front of the house,” Molla said.

 

“I went to stop them. But one of them snubbed me saying he would shoot me,” he added.

 

Following Taleya’s claim, when bdnews24.com contacted Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Joint Commissioner Krishna Pada Ray around 10am, he said he had 'no knowledge of any such incident'.

Rehman was apparently arrested for his alleged involvement in the ‘plot to abduct' Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy.

 

Sajib Onasis, Assistant Editor of weekly ‘Mouchake Dhil’, which is also edited by Rehman, told reporters that Taleya received a call from the DB office around 11am. 

 

She was told to take food and medicines for Rehman.

 

Sajib claimed the same three men had also visited the house two days ago saying they wanted to interview Rehman. But they could not meet him that day.

 

The BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi went to Rehman’s house around 11am.

 

He told Taleya Rehman, “We’ve already informed the British high commissioner about this.”

 

Before visiting Rehman’s house, Rizvi, at a press conference at BNP office said, “Police have whisked away (Rehman) by identifying themselves as reporters of Boishakhi TV. What kind of a country is this?”