Md Shofiquel Islam

A school teacher of Dhamrai upazila in Dhaka has been missing for the last seven months and police are still clueless about his whereabouts.

On July 5, 2015, Dhamrai Hardinge High School's Bangla teacher Md Shofiquel Islam, 30, mysteriously went missing as he was heading for school from his house at Balitha village of Dhamrai, on the outskirts of the capital, around 10:00am.

Victim's father Md Tofazzol Hosen filed two general diaries and a case on July 11, against one Md Alomgir Hosen and four unnamed miscreants. He alleged that Alomgir, an influential local landowner of the area, has abducted Shofiquel following a land dispute.

Mohammad Rezaul Haque, officer-in-charge of Dhamrai police, said during an investigation they had arrested Alomgir. "He recently got bail, and meanwhile the case was transferred to the CID," the OC added.

Tofazzol alleged, "Ever since Alomgir got bail, he has been threatening us."

When asked, Alomgir, denied the accusation and said, "Because of the land dispute, the family suspects me but I was totally ignorant of the incident."

The family, meanwhile, kept on trying their best to find out about Shofiquel's whereabouts. Shofiquel's father applied to a senior secretary of the home ministry asking for help in finding his son, in August last year and Shofiquel's younger brother Md Shohidul Islam also requested the chairman of National Human Rights Commission for assistance.

"He even delayed his marriage to support the family and we have just started building a house and taken preparation for his marriage," a teary-eyed Shohidul told this correspondent about his elder brother Shofiquel, the only educated and bread-earning person of the six-member family, who joined the school in 2012.

"He had no connection with political activities either," Mosaddekul Islam Chowdhury, principal of Hardinge School told The Daily Star, adding that the school authorities have repeatedly requested the police to find him.

Even in this duress, some wanted to take advantage of the situation by extorting money from the family. They demanded Tk 20,000 to inform about Shofiquel's whereabouts. The family sent the money through a money transfer service over a mobile phone, which was later recovered by the cops after tracking the number, said Bishnu Brata Mollik, inspector of the Criminal Investigation Department, also the investigation officer of the case.

When asked about the progress of the investigation, he said, "It is still underway."

"We want to know if he is alive or not," said Shahidul, doubting the law enforcement agency's performance.