Cadres of the 'Five Star Group' allegedly linked to the Islami Chhatra Shibir were believed to be involved in the incident, police said. "The motive was to extort a huge amount of money."

Movement of traffic came to a standstill for nearly two hours at the busy city intersection. Transport workers, traders and local people put up barricades on the road, soon after the news of the abduction of Mohammad Alamgir, 40, president of Jubo Dal ward- 4 in Chandgaon thana, reached them.

They withdrew the barricades at around 2.00pm after he was released.

Witnesses said 14 to 15 armed men, riding a microbus and a motorbike, stormed into Alamgir's Anika restaurant cum phone-fax shop at around 11.30am, fired two blank shots, picked up the victim and left the place.

Sources said Jasim, one of the leaders of the 'Five Star Group,' had been demanding of Alamgir Tk 5 lakh since last month.

However, Deputy Commissioner (north) of the CMP Meah Lutfar Rahman Chowdhury gave a different version of the incident."Alamgir was not the target," he said.

"The kidnappers might have been looking for another businessman. They might also have given him (Alamgir) a warning by their action yesterday," he said.