Tejgaon police raided the home of Mayer Daak coordinator Sanjida Islam Tulee Thursday evening to arrest her brother, who had been forcibly disappeared twelve years ago.

Mayer Daak was formed by families of victims of enforced disappearances in February 2014 following the enforced disappearance of Sajedul Islam Shumon, a BNP leader, who had been picked up by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in December 2013.

The organisation was founded by Sumon's sisters Sanjida Islam Tulee and Afroza Islam Ankhi.

Sumon's case has been well-covered by both national and international media.

"The Tejgaon police had no idea that he had been forcibly disappeared so many years ago," said Tulee. "They had an arrest warrant with them".

She said that this raid was particularly distressful because all these years, up until the fall of the Awami League regime, their family had not received help from the law enforcers as they searched for Sumon.

"We have filed a case at the International Crimes Tribunal and that investigation itself is ongoing. How does the police not know?" said Tulee.

Mobarak Hossain, the officer-in-charge of Tejgaon police station said that the raid was a mistake.

"We were simply executing a court warrant. We did not know," said Mobarak. He sent the reference of a criminal case in which Sumon was convicted.

Sumon was convicted in this case on October 20, 2023, even though he had been forcibly disappeared for ten years by then. "We did not know – we got the papers from the court," said OC Mobarak.

Muhammad Talebur Rahman, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, in charge of media and public relations, regretted the incident.

In November 2023, this newspaper reported that Sumon was sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment in an arson case, ten years after his disappearance.

He was prosecuted for a case filed on May 25, 2013, where a private car was set on fire in front of what used to Ayesha Memorial Hospital while the driver was still inside.

Back in 2023, this newspaper had spoken to the driver Jahangir, and he had said, "The police took me to the station to know about what happened, and then asked me to sign a piece of blank paper. That is all I know. I didn't see anyone setting the car on fire, so why would I charge anyone?" said Jahangir.

Sumon's name was later included in the case by the police.