A 3-year-old child was abducted from Dhaka Udyan in Mohammadpur, Dhaka on April 26. After abducting the child, they advertised online for sale. Based on that advertisement, when a buyer was contacted named Pranil Pal and made the sell for two lakh taka on a stamp. However, after 23 days, the kidnapped child Siddiq was rescued unharmed by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-2). The child was rescued unharmed from Gopalganj. 5 persons including Pijush couple, the mastermind of the kidnapping gang, have been arrested.
Anwar Hossain Khan, the captain of RAB-2, gave this information in a press conference on Friday (November 19). This Additional Deputy Inspector General of Police highlighted the incident of rescue in the press conference.
The RAB official said that the child Siddique was playing with her elder sister Humaira (8) and other children in front of the Dhaka Udyan house on April 26 at noon. At this time, a stranger came and offered chocolates to the children who were playing. At one point, the unidentified man took Siddique in his arms and asked Humaira to go home saying that he would buy mangoes from the market. Humaira did not want to leave her brother and the person threatened her and took the child away. Later, they claimed the child as their own through a Facebook group and sold it to Pallab Kanti Biswas (52) and his wife Bebi Sarkar (46) for Tk. 2 lakh through a person named Sujan.
Meanwhile, Delwar filed a general diary at Mohammadpur police station on April 27 after not finding the child. Later, on April 29, the child’s father, Delwar Hossain, filed a case under the Child and Women Torture Act and complained to RAB.
Anwar Hossain Khan said that after receiving the complaint, RAB-2 started the shadow investigation of the incident. The investigation identified the abductor Pijush Kanti Pal and his accomplice wife Riddhita Pal through a review of CCTV footage and intelligence and technology. At one stage of the investigation, it was learned that after the child was kidnapped, it was sold to Pallab Kanti Biswas and his wife Bebi Sarkar for two lakh taka through a person named Sujan Sutar. Later on last Thursday, Sujan Sutar was arrested from Shahbagh in the capital. According to the information given by him, the kidnapped child Siddique was rescued from Pallab Kanti Biswas and his wife Bebi Sarkar from Tarasi village of Kotalipara in Gopalganj district and the couple was arrested. Pijush Kanti Pal and his wife Riddhita Pal, the masterminds of the kidnapping, were later arrested from Savar in a series of raids.
Due to the delay in rescuing the child Siddique, the father of Delwar complained to RAB-2. After investigating the complaint, RAB arrested Sujan, who was involved in selling children, from Shahbagh area on May 18.
Citing the information obtained during the interrogation of the accused for selling children through social media, the RAB captain said, Pijush Kanti Pal used to work in a beauty parlor/spa center as a part-time job while studying MBA in a private university. At that time he met Riddhita Pal. Later they got married in 2020. Pijush Kanti Pal got involved in human trafficking from the time he originally worked in a spa center. In May last year, a case was filed against him with Banani police station on charges of human trafficking. He was released on bail after spending some days in jail in that case.
The couple had been advertising the children for sale through a group on social media Facebook called ‘Sanatani Sukhari Forum (SUF)’. Accused Sujan Sutar was introduced to accused Riddhita Pal through this group. When Sujan made a post for child adoption in this group, Riddhita Pal expressed interest in adopting a child in exchange for money.
RAB official Anwar Hossain Khan said that on April 21, after contacting Sujan Sutar, Riddhita Pal sent a picture of her one-year-old son Pranil Pal and said that this boy will be adopted. Riddhita identified the child as the child of a housekeeper who had been abandoned by her husband. After seeing the picture, Sujan said that he would like to adopt the child.
After the two parties agreed, Pijush came to Dhaka Udyan at noon on April 26 and abducted the child Siddique by feeding him chocolate and took him to his home in Savar. Later, Riddhita Pal contacted Sujan on mobile phone and asked him to go in front of Agargaon IDB building. That afternoon Riddhita Pal took the child to Agargaon and introduced herself as Arpana Das and Piyush Kanti Pal as Bijan Bihari Pal. Then the couple sold it to Sujan for two lakh taka through a stamp. As evidence, they gave photocopies of vaccination card of Pranil Pal, birth certificate in the name of Arpana Das and ID card in the name of Bijan Bihari Pal.
Arrested Sujan told the interrogation that her close relatives, childless couple Pallab Kanti Biswas and Bebi Sarkar, wanted a child. Later, Pijush and Riddhita bought the baby Siddique from the couple for two lakh rupees and gave him to his relatives.
RAB official Anwar Hossain Khan said that legal measures are being taken in this incident.