'IT expert' Zoha goes missing

Unidentified persons allegedly picked up IT expert Tanveer Hassan Zoha from the capital's Dhaka Cantonment area early yesterday, a couple of days after the ICT Division dismissed reports of his affiliation with it.

The 32-year-old information technology expert was returning to his Kalabagan house with his friend Yamir Ahmed by a CNG-run auto-rickshaw around 1:00am, said his family members.

When the three-wheeler reached near Siraj-Khaleda Memorial Hospital inside the cantonment, some eight to 10 plainclothes men intercepted the vehicle, they said quoting Yamir, who was released shortly afterwards.

Tanveer and Yamir were then forced into two separate vehicles, said Tanveer's uncle Mahbubul Alam, former deputy director general of the state-run Bangladesh Television.

The incident took place between 1:00am and 1:20am, he said.

They put Yamir in a jeep, blindfolded him and then dropped him on Manik Mia Avenue. He then went to Tanveer's house around 2:00am and informed his family about the incident.

Mahbubul said they had no idea why Tanveer was picked up.

He said Yamir couldn't say whether the men were carrying firearms.

Meanwhile, asked whether law enforcers picked up Tanveer (in connection with the probe into the Bangladesh Bank reserve heist), Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that he couldn't tell for sure at this moment whether law enforcers had detained Tanveer.

He, however, said the IT expert might have been picked up for the sake of the investigation.

The minister made the comment before attending a programme in the capital's Krishibid Institution.

Some media outlets ran Tanveer's comments in their reports on the BB reserve heist, identifying him as an official of the ICT Division.

But on March 14, the ICT Division issued a statement, saying Tanveer had no affiliation with it.

The ICT Division said its attention was drawn to some news reports that identified Tanveer Hassan Zoha as its official.

“The ICT Division of the posts, telecommunications and information technology ministry has no link with any person named Tanveer Zoha/Tanveer Hassan Zoha,” it said.

Tanveer's uncle Mahbubul said his nephew is an employee of Insight Bangladesh Foundation, an IT-related non-governmental organisation.

The NGO had a project with the ICT Division but its contract expired recently, he added.

Tanveer's family members said they went to Kalabagan Police Station around 2:30am to file a general diary but officials there refused to accept it, saying the scene of the incident was not under the police station.

The officials advised them to go to Kafrul police to file GD, according to them.

As they went to Kafrul Police Station in the morning, officials there asked them to approach the cantonment police, said Tanveer's family.

Contacted, Mohammad Iqbal, officer-in-charge of Kalabagan Police Station, said Tanveer's family came to the police station to file a complaint. But they didn't accept it as the incident took place outside their police station area.

The Daily Star called Shikder Shamim Hossain, OC of Kafrul Police Station, several times, but he didn't pick up the phone.

Asked about the police refusal to accept GD from Tanveer's family, the home minister told reporters that he was unaware of it.

Tanveer's wife Kamrunnahar, a physician, said her husband left home on Tuesday morning, and she talked to him over the phone several times till Wednesday.

“Tanveer called me around 11:30pm on Wednesday the last time, and said he was coming home,” she told The Daily Star at her Kalabagan house.

But she found Tanveer's mobile phone switched off after Yamir had told her about the incident.