According to police, a gang of criminals stormed into the house of shopkeeper Sahidul Islam at Mathurapur village in Daulatpur upazila at about 2 am and picked his 14-year-old daughter Saymoli Kahtun at gunpoint. She was a student of class IX at Mathurapur High School.

Latter the gang demanded Tk 2 lakh ransom for her release. The gang gave seven days' time for the payment and threatened to kill the girl for non-compliance, police said.

A case was filed with Daulatpur police station.

When contacted, the duty officer at the thana said they are trying to trace the girl.

As many as 47 people were abducted for ransom in Kushtia district alone since January this year, according to police records.

Chuadanga police said, Mansur Ali, 37, son of Abdul Jalil of Sarikullah village and Nazrul Islam, 30, son of Kadam Ali of Munshipara village in Damurhuda upazila went out of home to attend a marriage ceremony at nearby Subolpur village on Friday night. They were missing since then.

On Sunday, at about noon, some farmers saw two bodies floating on Bhairob river and informed Carpausdanga police camp.

Police recovered the bodies and sent those to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital for autopsy.

A case was filed with Damurhuda police, but they could not make any clue to the murders.

Contacted over cell phone yesterday, a relative one of the victims claimed that Mansur Ali and nazrul Islam were once involved with an outlawed party and that their rivals in the party might have killed them.