Police in a drive rescued a businessman three days after he was kidnapped from an abandoned cottage in Mahamaya Lake area of Mirsarai upazila in Chattogram and arrested eight people in this connection on Thursday.

The rescued businessman is Helal Uddin, 36, a resident of Hathazari upazila who runs a car garage near Rowshan Boarding in Shulkbahar area under Panchlaish Police Station, said Mozammel Haque, Officer-in-Charge of Panchlaish Model Police Station.

The arrestees are Abul Hashem, 52, Akram, 34, Shanto Mia, 32, Moin Uddin Raihan, 29, Amzad Hossain, 35, Mahbub Rahman, 26, Manik Hossain, 30, and Faruk, 34.

According to the case statement, Abul Hashem was Helal’s business partner.

Hashem had invested Tk 9.30 lakh in the business, of which Helal had repaid Tk 4.61 lakh at different times.

A dispute had been continuing over the remaining Tk 4.69 lakh, and Hashem had allegedly been threatening Helal for several days to recover the money.

As a sequel to the enmity, Abul Hashem and several others went to the area in front of Rowshan Boarding in a white microbus at around 3:30 pm on September 7 and picked Helal up forcibly into the vehicle and took him to an unknown location.

Later, the kidnappers made a phone call to Helal's wife, Jesmin Akter and demanded Tk 50 lakh in ransom.

They also threatened to kill Helal if the money was not paid.

Jesmin filed a case with Panchlaish Model Police Station on September 8.

Later, a team of police arrested Shanto Mia from North Kattali area under Akbar Shah Police Station at around 3:30 pm on Wednesday.

Based on information provided by Shanto, police arrested Abul Hashem from Mohammadpur area of Panchlaish.

Later, police arrested Akram from Latifpur area under Akbar Shah Police Station. A mobile phone used by Helal was recovered from his possession.

Based on information gleaned from the arrestees, police conducted a drive at an abandoned Forest Department cottage inside Mahamaya Lake area with assistance from Mirsarai and Jorarganj police and rescued Helal.

They also arrested five more people from the spot.