Pay toll or face kidnap, killing
Caller makes threat to opposition chief whip
Staff Correspondent
An unnamed caller on Wednesday demanded Tk 10 lakh in toll from the family of Opposition Chief Whip Abdus Shahid and threatened his wife with the killing of their children in captivity in failure to pay the money by Thursday."I feel insecure...I'm worried about my children," Shahid's wife Umme Qulsum, who received several nighttime phone calls, told The Daily Star yesterday. Her daughter, a college student, received the first call, but the caller did not talk, said Qulsum, who received a second call from the man wanting to know the whereabouts of Shahid. The opposition chief whip was not home and the caller demanded the money and threatened abduction and killing of their children in repeated calls until 9:00pm, Qulsum said. Shahid, who was in Sylhet on Wednesday, said he informed the security-in-charge of the MP Hostel and sent letters to Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar and the home ministry about it. He will also file a general diary. Following a robbery at his Srimangal home in Moulvibazar on April 11, Shahid wrote to the Speaker on June 24, requesting him to ensure his security with two armed bodyguards. The Jatiya Sangsad forwarded the letter to the home ministry on August 3.
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