Police have failed to rescue him even 40 days after his abduction in Chittagong.

Intelligence agencies have also been engaged in the operation to rescue the businessman, abducted at gunpoint from Chawkbazar on July 24.

"Our previous negotiations with the abductors have failed," said a police source, adding law enforcers had been hopeful of Jamal's rescue 10 days ago when the abductors agreed to free him on a ransom of Tk 15 lakh.

"But the money was misappropriated and nobody knows for sure where Jamal is held hostage," he said.

Intelligence sources said they are all but sure the businessman was moved out of the abductors' hideout in Fatikchhari and taken to another hideout in an outlying hilly area in Khagrachhari.

Jamal is likely to have been handed over to a group that opposes the 1997 peace accord on the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the source said.

Army arrested Kilo Ung Marma in Manikchhari village in Lakkhichhari upazila, Khagrachhari, on Tuesday. The 30-year-old indigenous person, locally known as Kilo Mohajan, was handed over to Fatikchhari police for questioning yesterday. Police arrested another 24 suspects on Tuesday night.

Investigators believe Shahidul Alam, Union Parishad (UP) chairman of Anowara, and Kashem, a ruling BNP-backed UP chairman in Fatikchhari, masterminded the kidnap. The chairmen are believed to have strong support from Nazibal Bashar Maijbhandari and Sarwar Jamal Nizam, former and present local lawmakers, but both leaders denied having links to the abduction.

Last week, the BNP high command asked Nizam to help the investigators contact Kashem for the rescue of Jamal, political sources said. "The process has been initiated," said a police source in Chittagong. But Nizam denied such an instruction.

On August 21, Jamal's family with the help of police negotiated the release of the businessman on a ransom of Tk 15 lakh with representatives of abductors, said a source who was involved in the negotiations.

On August 23, the family gave the money to two police officials who went to the Mandakini Hills in Fatikchhari. The officials returned and told the family that the money was transferred and Jamal would be released shortly.

Inspector General of Police Shahudul Haq told a Jatiya Sangsad standing committee on August 23 that Jamal would be rescued within 48 hours. On August 24, Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury told the press that the government came to know about the whereabouts of Jamal and he would be rescued soon.

But the businessman was not rescued until late yesterday evening.

All communications between the abductors and police or Jamal's family remained snapped since August 23, wrapping the entire episode in mystery.

The government punished Chittagong police and over a dozen officers had been transferred. Everything seems to start anew.

"We have decided not to hint anything of the rescue bid unless we actually find him," said a high police official in Chittagong.