Shahidul Islam Ratan is among the seven detained after police raided a house in the town’s Kalibari neighbourhood.
The 35-year-old, who has undisclosed sources of income and no profession, hails from a village at the district’s bordering Upazila of Haluaghat.
Relatives of another suspect, 19-year-old Ashiqur Rahman Hridoy, claimed it was Ratan who radicalised him.
On Monday 3/4 police sealed off a house at the town’s Kalibari and detained seven persons for their suspected links with islamic militants.
Radical Islamist literature, laptops and bank cheques worth 7 million BanglaDeshi Taka were found in their possession.
Suspect Ratan’s wife Asma Khatun told bdnews24.com her husband used to spend the nights of Thursday and Friday at home and that she had no idea where he would be the rest of the week. “He changed after performing the Hajj [ritual pilgrimage to Makkah] three years ago. He hated those who did not go for Namaaz [each of the 5 ritual daily prayer to Allah]. He used to give sermons in the local mosque and always read the Quran and other books on Islam,” said Khatun.
They got married ten years ago after Ratan graduated in business studies. The couple has a 6-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old boy.
Ratan’s father Marfat Ali said, “I remain busy with my fish farm and also cultivate paddy. My son took religion more seriously after the Hajj. He should be tried if he’s involved with militancy.”
Residents of Ratan’s village said that he bought a motorcycle a month ago without taking any money from his father. Since then, his movements became more suspicious.
Meanwhile, Hridoy’s family believes he was radicalised by Ratan.
One of his sisters told bdnews24.com: “After clearing his school-leaving exams from a Madrasa, Hridoy enrolled at a college in Phulpur Upazila town. As far as we knew, he moved to Mymensingh town to take driving lessons to go abroad as a worker. He might have chosen that path after being with Ratan.”
Hridoy is the eldest of the four children of his father, who works at a filling station in Dhaka’s Jatrabari.
Mymensingh’s Additional Superintendent of Police Nure Alam said the seven suspects may be produced before a court on Wednesday in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Source: BD News24