Businessman ‘disappeared’ by DB, framed in false case, alleges Dhaka MP

A Dhaka businessman has accused Detective Branch (DB) officers of abducting him, holding him in secret detention and threatening to kill or mutilate him before implicating him in a fabricated criminal case.

The allegations prompted Dhaka-14 lawmaker Barrister Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem Arman to demand the arrest of those involved, warning that enforced disappearances were returning under Bangladesh's new democratic government.

"Have we really managed to escape the fascist system?" Arman asked at a press conference in Rupnagar on Monday.

The businessman, Mohammad Shamim Khan, alleged that he was abducted outside a United Commercial Bank (UCB) branch on August 26 and subsequently taken to a DB facility before being blindfolded and moved to an undisclosed location.

He claimed his captors told him the operation had been authorised by senior police officials acting on instructions from the Home Ministry.

Arman described the incident as the second enforced disappearance in Dhaka-14 since Bangladesh's democratic transition.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has described the enforced disappearance of Miraj Sheikh as the first reported case of its kind under Bangladesh’s new democratically elected BNP government.

Taken from bank, held in secret

Shamim said a group of men seized him outside the UCB branch in his neighbourhood between 8:15pm and 8:30pm on August 26.

He said he was initially taken to the DB office and later blindfolded and transferred elsewhere.

When he demanded an explanation, his captors allegedly told him that a police officer identified as DC Rakib had ordered his detention on instructions from the Home Ministry.

Another officer, identified as Palash, had deployed personnel to carry out the operation, he was told.

"They said my enemies were very powerful and dangerous, and that my life was at serious risk," Shamim told the press conference.

He said he was confined to a room where he performed his daily prayers. Food was provided when he paid for it himself.

An officer later questioned him about his background.

Shamim said he explained that he was a businessman, prayed five times a day and regularly travelled within Bangladesh and abroad for Tabligh activities.

He insisted he had committed no crime.

When he asked whether the authorities had detained the wrong person, the officers allegedly rejected the suggestion.

"They told me they had specific information against me and had verified it through the National Security Intelligence," he said.

Threats to cut off leg, plant firearms case

Shamim alleged that the questioning escalated into threats against his life.

His captors threatened to kill him, cut off one of his legs and implicate him in a firearms case, he claimed.

He said he repeatedly asked why he was being treated as a criminal, reminding the officers that he had three children.

The response, according to Shamim, was that they were following orders from higher authorities.

The interrogation focused heavily on his business.

Officers repeatedly asked who financed him, who supported his commercial activities and how he had accumulated his wealth.

Shamim said he told them his business was built through hard work and ethical practices, but the questioning continued.

He also accused DB officer Fazle Khoda Palash of questioning him about several people in Mirpur, including Tuli, Mishti, Pavel and Saiful.

The officers also wanted to know why he had visited a person named Miraj.

Shamim said the visit was for legitimate business purposes.

His captors allegedly told him that remaining in detention was safer than being released.

"They told me that my life was at risk outside, but that I was innocent as long as I remained inside," he said.

He claimed they advised him to close his business if he survived.

When he asked how he would support his family, they allegedly replied that he could resume business only if he stayed alive.

Shamim alleged that he was later taken to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where a bandage was placed on his leg.

He described the procedure as staged.

Photographs were taken of the bandaged leg and sent to an unidentified recipient, he claimed.

He alleged that the episode was intended to manufacture evidence before he was implicated in a false criminal case.

‘What was the point of the revolution?’

Arman accused unnamed individuals of using law enforcement agencies to settle a business dispute.

"It is clear that the state machinery is being used over a business-related matter," he said.

"If the same things that happened during the fascist period continue under a democratic government, what was the point of the revolution?"

The lawmaker said ending enforced disappearances had been among the central expectations of Bangladesh's political transition.

"One of our greatest dreams was that enforced disappearances would never again occur on Bangladeshi soil," he said.

"But at the very beginning of this new democratic journey, we are witnessing another disappearance in Dhaka-14."

He questioned whether the sacrifices made during the uprising had brought meaningful changes to the conduct of state institutions.

"Is this the new Bangladesh we wanted after so many students and ordinary citizens sacrificed their blood?" he asked.

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