Three police constables and a man were detained for their alleged involvement in abducting two businessmen and realising ransom in Shariatpur’s Damudya upazila.

The detained cops are Kaushik Ahmed Setu, 30, Kausar Talukder, 29, Rubayet Mir, 27, and their accomplice Sharif Hossain, 35.

Of them, Setu, Kausar and Rubayet are posted at Khulna, Chattogram and Dhaka metropolitan police respectively while Sharif hails from Laksam upazila of Cumilla

Locals said a gang of eight miscreants arrived in a grey microbus and a motorcycle at local Darul Aman Bazar and blocked their (victims) path, attacked them and forcefully dragged them into the microbus.

They were abducted on their way home from the bazar around 9pm on Thursday.

The victims are Mohammad Jewel Sardar, 32, and Faisal Sardar, 24, cloth traders of the bazar.

The victims said the abductors posed as police officers, handcuffed them, and threatened them with a gun, demanding Tk 20 lakh as ransom. When the traders refused to comply, the gang physically assaulted them using iron rods, punches, and kicks.

The victims were later taken to Lakepara of nearby Madaripur where the abductors forced Jewel’s brother Swadhin Sardar to give the ransom money.

Initially, Tk 391,000 was given to the abductors through bKash, and Nagad. However, when the abductors demanded more money, the victims tricked them into coming to Damudya Bus Stand, claiming they would arrange the remaining amount there.

Around 1am (Friday), when the kidnappers arrived at the bus stand, the victims started shouting for help, responding to it locals quickly intervened, stopped the microbus and detained the cops.

Later, the mob detained Sharif while he was trying to flee.

The suspects were beaten before being handed over to the police.

During interrogation, detainee Rubayet said, "Kausar is our boss. All the ransom money is with him. I don’t know anything else."

Damudya police station’s Officer-in-Charge (OC) Hafizur Rahman Manik said they took the detainees, including the cops, under their custody and efforts were underway to detain the rest others.

Legal action against the detainees was taken in this regard, added the OC.