Saiful Islam, alias Abu Muktadim, who was caught by law enforcers as a militant suspect from Sholakia after a deadly attack on police on the Eid day, rarely visited his Dinajpur home after he got admitted to a madrassa in Birampur upazila. The family also left the village home about two years ago, said neighbours. The 19-year-old youth, locally known as Shohan, started his educational life from a local madrassa, said neighbours in his village home in Debipur under Ghoraghat upazila of Dinajpur  Later he got admitted to Bijul Darul Huda Kamil Madrasa in Birampur upazila, around 30-km off his home. He is the eldest among three siblings, they said. Following an arson case filed against Shohan’s father in 2014, the family rented off their house and left the village, said Nuruzzaman Chowdhury, officer in-charge of Ghoraghat Police Station. He also claimed that Shohan’s father Abdul Hye was an activist of local Jamaat.
“I saw him on TV being escorted by policemen and wearing torn out clothes on Friday morning, said Halima Begum, an elderly woman and a neighbour of Shohan. “Villagers knew nothing about their whereabouts,” neighbours told our correspondent as he visited Debipur village on Friday. The house that belonged to Shohan’s family was found locked and villagers were afraid to talk about the family. Neighbours said the tenants fled their house soon after police caught Shohan in Sholakia on the Eid day. An uneasy environment prevailed in the village. “It is really unbelievable and unacceptable as we never expected any terror act like that from him (Sohan)”, said Abdul Mannan, chairman of Singra Union in Ghoraghat. Meanwhile, members of Rapid Action Battalion detained Enamul Haque, 25, a cousin of Sohan, from his home at Raniganj village of Ghoraghat upazila of Dinajpur at around 2.30am Friday. He was released yesterday after questioning, said RAB sources.