On the night of August 4, 2016, Mokhlesur Rahman Jony left his home for Satkhira's New Market to buy medicine for his ailing father. He never returned.
That night, local police allegedly picked him up. Hours later, police stormed Jony's house for a "search," tipping off his family that something was terribly wrong. Since then, Jony has remained missing - his whereabouts unknown, his family's grief unanswered.
Now, nearly a decade later, a Satkhira court has ordered public notices summoning two police officers - former Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Emdadul Haque Sheikh and Sub-Inspector Himel Hossain - to appear before court and face charges related to Jony's disappearance. Despite earlier arrest warrants, both have evaded court proceedings for years.
The notices must be published in national newspapers by August 3, 2025, the court directed on May 13. A third accused, former OC Md Feroz Hossain Mollah - who took charge at the station after Jony's disappearance - is currently out on bail.
Family's Agony: Jony's father, 70-year-old Shaikh Abdur Rashed, still waits for answers. Partially disabled from a road accident, he works as a hotel receptionist to survive. His elder son was trafficked to Qatar and suffered there under exploitative conditions.
"We brought food for Jony at the police station for three days," Father Rashed told The Daily Observer. "But on the fourth day, the police said he had been sent to Dhaka. Since then, we've heard nothing."
Jony's wife, Jasmin Nahar, filed a writ petition with the High Court, detailing how police raided their home on the night of his disappearance. Officers told her the family could meet Jony at the police station. She says she complied - even handing over the family's national ID cards to SI Himel at his request - but her husband vanished from the lockup days later.
A Troubled Investigation: In July 2017, following Jasmin's petition, the High Court bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah ordered a fresh investigation by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), criticizing a previous judicial probe as "incomplete."
The earlier probe, conducted by Magistrate Habibullah Mahmud, had found compelling evidence implicating OC Emdadul and SI Himel in Jony's disappearance. The magistrate examined custody registers, general diaries, and witness testimony - none of which showed a record of Jony's arrest.
Yet multiple witnesses placed him at the Satkhira Sadar Police Station. Jasmin said she met another detainee's wife, Shahnaz Akhtar, at the station - a claim later confirmed by Shahnaz herself. Detainees Asadur Rahman and Aminul Islam independently confirmed seeing and interacting with Jony in the lockup.
Still, officials denied all involvement. The police station's records bore no trace of Jony. SI Himel, when confronted about the ID cards, gave vague answers and denied responsibility for Jony's detention.
Official Denials and Shifting Narratives
In October 2016, Jasmin attempted to meet Satkhira's Superintendent of Police (SP), Md Altaf Hossain. She was turned away. SP Altaf later denied the meeting ever occurred.
In a written statement, both Altaf and OC Feroz tried to discredit Jony, alleging ties to militant group Allahr Dal. They claimed Jony joined the outfit in 2009 and was promoted to Nayek in 2014. However, the PBI, Satkhira's DSB unit, and even OC Emdad himself stated they had no such information on file.
In a surprising twist, SP Altaf Hossain was later dismissed from service in 2022 for unrelated misconduct - hiding the seizure of 120 bhoris of smuggled gold during his tenure in Satkhira.
A Damning Report: The PBI's final report painted a grim picture of systemic negligence and abuse of power. It accused the Satkhira Sadar Police Station's leadership - including Emdadul, Himel, and Feroz - of failing to log Jony's arrest or investigate his disappearance properly.
Their actions, the report said, had "seriously damaged the image of the police" and reflected "incompetence and negligence in duty." The PBI recommended departmental action against the responsible officers.
A Decade Without Closure: Despite mounting evidence, the core question remains unanswered: What happened to Mokhlesur Rahman Jony?
His family, broken by years of uncertainty, still clings to hope. "We only want to know the truth," said Jasmin. "Even if it hurts, we deserve to know what happened to him."
With the court now escalating efforts to compel the accused officers to appear, there is renewed pressure on the justice system to bring accountability in a case that has haunted Satkhira - and one family - for far too long.
