Five members of the same family, including three young children, have been mysteriously missing for nearly two months in Gobindaganj, Gaibandha. Relatives claim that despite disappearing from Chandpara village in the upazila on August 2, no trace of them has been found over this extended period.
The missing individuals have been identified as Shantana Begum (45), wife of Saiful Islam of Chandpara village; her eldest daughter, Jinat Akhtar (25); her children, Jannatul Mawa Arsh (12) and Sajjadur Rahman Sani (8); and her two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter, Huzaifa Khatun.
According to family and local sources, Shantana Begum, along with her children and granddaughter, left their house on the afternoon of August 2 in the absence of the head of the household, Saiful Islam, and never returned. Relatives confirmed their disappearance after searching through extended family members’ homes and finding all their mobile phones switched off.
Following the disappearance, household head Saiful Islam reported that Tk 81,000 in cash, nearly one bhori of gold jewelry, and certain household items were also missing, expressing deep concern that something orchestrated may lie behind the event.
The suffering family alleged that when they went to file a General Diary (GD) at Gobindaganj Police Station on August 5, the police declined to register the GD, accepting only a written complaint, and attempted to cover up the matter under the pretext of political pressure. However, police officially registered a GD on Tuesday night (September 29).
Denying the allegations of inactivity and political pressure, Gobindaganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mozammel Huq stated that wireless alerts containing photos and identities of the missing persons have been dispatched to all police stations nationwide, and police operations are ongoing to trace and recover them.
With no clue regarding the whereabouts of the five family members—including three innocent children—even after two months, extreme panic, despair, and anxiety prevail among the affected relatives.
