PP, counsel of Kunio Hoshi murder case, goes missing

The public prosecutor, also the counsel of Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi murder case, Rathish Chandra Bhowmik, went missing on Friday morning as two bikers picked him up from in front of his house at Tajhat area, outskirts of the divisional town.

The locals and relatives of Rathish Chandra demonstrated against the abduction and blocked the Rangpur-Kurigram road at Tajhat for two hours demanding that the government will find his whereabouts immediately.

Rathish Chandra’s brother Sushanto Bhoumik told UNB that his brother was kidnapped by two men ridden by a motorcycle around 6:30am near his house.

Since then Rathish’s cell phone has been found switched off and he remained missing, he said.

Meanwhile, the family members of Rathish have informed local police and Rapid Action Battalion men about the incident, he added.

Protesting the abduction, Rangpur Bar Association will hold daylong pen-down strike and protest rally at Rangpur court premises on Sunday, said its secretary advocate Abdul Malek.

Hoshi Kunio, 65, was gunned down near his farmhouse at Kachu Alutary in Kaunia upazila on October 3, 2015.

Last year on February, a special court of Rangpur convicted five members of the banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and sentenced them to death for killing Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio in 2015.