The father of Shihab, the 13-year old boy who was kidnapped and killed in the city, believes something could have been done for his son had the police been not so mindlessly negligent.

"It took me seven days to reach the officer-in-charge of Motijheel thana to make the police realise the gravity of the matter and the fact that my son's life was at stake," said Khondaker Dilder Ahmed, the father, yesterday.

Immediately after the abductors phoned Dilder in the evening on February 7, he went to the police station and filed a General Diary. But soon he realised that the police were not taking the case seriously. "I was quite disappointed at the way the police treated my son's abduction case," he said.

Khondaker Shihab Ahmed, a student of class seven at the Motijheel Model High School in Shahjahanpur, was kidnapped for ransom by a group of alleged kidnappers who live in the same area in Bashabo where Shihab lived.

According to the police detectives, Shihab was strangled to death on the day of his abduction and sliced into nine pieces before being buried in four different places close to his house.

But, Shihab's father believes his son might not have been murdered on the very day of his kidnapping. "Why should they kill him on the same day? What is the basis of the police claim?" he questioned. "If the police acted in time, I believe they could have rescued him alive."

He expressed sheer frustration at the police attitude towards the investigation of his son's abduction case. He said he had to move alone to convince the police how serious the case was. "Police treated the kidnapping case like any other common criminal case and evidently, they had little sense of seriousness forit."

"I was having problems with the investigating police officer, one Alamgir," Dilder said. The investigating officer (IO) was quite new in town (he was transferred to the city only a month ago) and had little idea about the Motijheel and Sabujbagh areas. "So, it was quite impossible for the IO to gather information about my son's whereabouts."

"Failing to get any co-operation even after I met the OC of Motijheel thana I went to see Ruhul Amin, additional deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch of police. And he extended all-out co-operation and helped me to take a lot of vital decisions," added Dilder.

According to his school friends, Shihab had been a friend of Liton, Raju and other 'big brothers' of his neighbourhood for more than two months before his abduction.

"He loved fast food and probably they allured my son with food to find out more about his father's financial status. In the past one month before his abduction my son would come home late on a number of days. I guess he enjoyed being with them," said Shihab's mother in tears.

'I saw Shihab often going out with some guys and taking bicycle rides which he always loved to do. I never asked him about the guys but he told me that he had been learning how to ride bicycle," said Towfiq Alam Miraj, Shihab's best friend in school.

Shihab's mother also said she

had noticed her son with purse and laser torchlight weeks before his abduction. "I asked him about that but he said these were gifts from a friend."

On the day of the abduction on February 7, Shihab was supposed to be picked up by a neighbour who also has a son attending the same school. "My neighbour did not tell me that Shihab will be late home and refused to come home with her," said Shihab's mother.

"I began to worry at about 7:00pm finding that my son was not yet home. We were supposed to have dinner at my sister's house and he was still not at home. I told my husband (about that) and he started making phone calls. At about 9:00pm my husband received a call that claimed abduction of my son and we all broke down," recalled Shihab's mother.

On February 13 and 14, Shihab's family announced rewards in two national newspapers for information on his whereabouts.

Until yesterday, the police could arrest no-one having links with the murder. Shihab's first janaza was held at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque yesterday at 1:00pm, while the second one was held near Shihab's house in Bashabo in the evening.