Shawdesh Desk:

Two leaders of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who went missing after they were picked up by some people claiming to be from the Detective Branch of police on December 14 from Bogura, returned home on early Thursday.

The leaders — Kahalu upazila BNP assistant secretary Anwar Hossain alias Hridoy and relief and disaster affairs secretary Delwar Hossain — returned home, a day after the High Court asked the inspector general of police to submit a report on January 4 on the whereabouts of the duo leaders following a writ petition filed by the families.

Nur Nabi, nephew of Anwar Hossain, told New Age that someone dropped his uncle near their house at about 5:00am on Thursday.

‘We do not know who picked up or dropped him. My uncle did not talk about this after returning home’, he said, adding that Anwar left the home as soon as people started gathering at their houses.

However, Md Mahmud Hasan, officer-in-charge of Kahalu police station in Bogura, told New Age that they were aware of returning of Anwar Hossain. ‘We do not still know whether Delwar returned home or not’, he said.

Meanwhile, Delwar’s son Sakhawat Hossain told New Age that his father did not return home but he was safe. ‘My father has contacted me over phone. He is now safe. We have kept him at a safe place,’ he said.

Earlier, at a press conference on December 20, Akhi Begum, wife of Anwar Hossain, alleged that a group of people, identifying themselves as members of DB, picked her husband from a function at Rural Development Academy in Bogura on December 14.

She said that the plainclothes people also contacted Delwar Hossain from her husband’s phone and picked him up from the Dupchanchia area on the same day.

Anwar’s mother Romena Begum said that her son contacted her over the phone several hours after he was picked on December 14. ‘He told me over phone that he was detained and kept at a place in Bogura,’ she added.