Three people including a university student abducted from Eidgarh reserve forest in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar on Monday night were released last night in exchange for ransom.
Police found them in Hazipara area on Eidgarh-Baishari road in the upazila around 9:00pm, nearly 24 hours into their abduction, reports our Bandarban correspondent.
The abductees are Nafis Hossain, 28, a master's student of Chittagong University; Jitendra Kishore Dev, 44, a cashier of Baishari branch of Krishi Bank in Bandarban; and Mahbubur Rahman, 28, of Baishari, who earns a living by carrying passengers on his motorbike.
Anisur Rahman, sub-inspector of Baishari police camp, said Nafis and Jitendra paid Tk 1 lakh each, while Mahbub paid Tk 30,000 for the release.
Devdas Bhattacharya, superintendent of Bandarban police, however, claimed he did not hear about paying any ransom.

The trio were kidnapped on their way to Baishari from Eidgarh in Cox's Bazar in a passenger bus named Hill Line at around 9:30pm on Monday.
A gang of 15-16 armed men -- all in masks -- stopped the bus near Eidgarh, took the three out of the bus at gunpoint and left, said Saiful Islam Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Ramu Police Station.
Quoting the victims, the SI from Baishari said the captors beat them up for money. "They kept them deep inside a jungle without any food all night.”
Saifur Rahman, assistant sub-inspector of the Baishari police camp, said the family members sent the money through bKash, a mobile phone-based money transfer service.
The three were taken to Ramu Police Station last night and kept there for interrogation as of filing the report at 1:00am today.
Meanwhile, three more people, including two schoolboys, were abducted in Cox's Bazar and Gazipur in the last six days. Police could not make any headway.
They are Obaidul Haque Tuku, owner of a rice mill in Ukhia of Cox's Bazar, and Morshed Alam, a class-IX student of Eidgarh High School in Cox's Bazar, and Al Amin, a class-VII student of Araiganj Azimuddin High School in Gazipur. The children's families said the abductors had demanded ransom by phone for their release.
Tuku was picked up from Link Road in Cox's Bazar town on Saturday when he was returning to his residence at Ukilpara of Tarabaniarchhara, reports our Cox's Bazar Correspondent.
His wife Sanwara Begum said she filed a case the next day with Cox's Bazar sadar police station, accusing three people, including her brother Shah Alam.
The police are yet to make any headway in the case.
Morshed was kidnapped on Sunday from Painyarsia village in Eidgarh of Cox'a Bazar. The kidnappers demanded Tk 2 lakh over the phone, his elder brother Shafiul Alam said yesterday.
"They (kidnappers) threatened to kill my brother if we don't give them the money.”
The family lodged a general diary with Ramu Police Station yesterday, Shafiul added. The office-in-charge of the police station, however, said the police had not received any such complaint.
Meanwhile, some unidentified criminals kidnapped 13-year-old Amin, son of Alamgir Hossain of Dhaljora village in Kaliakoir upazila, on May 22, reported our Gazipur correspondent.
Receiving a phone call, he left home and has been missing since then, said Atikur Rahman, a sub-inspector of Kaliakoir Police Station.
Amin's mother Aleya Akter filed a case with the police station on Monday night.
Later, the family received a phone call by the abductors who demanded Tk 5 lakh to release the boy.