The eight-month-old daughter of a home ministry employee, who was abducted during a robbery at their home in Lalbagh in the capital, was rescued by Rab 16 hours after she was abducted on Friday morning.

The robbers kidnapped her to demand ransom from the family, Rab officials said, adding that they also looted Tk 1.5 lakh in cash and gold ornaments.

At a press conference at the Rab Media Center in the capital’s Karwan Bazaar yesterday, they said they were keeping the child’s father under surveillance, adding that they would look into all possible reasons behind the abduction.

Law enforcement officials said they arrested Fatema Akter Shapla, 27, who had moved into the home as a “paying guest” just a day earlier.

A Rab-10 team raided a house in the Nabinnagar Housing area of ​​the capital’s Mohammadpur around 1:30 am on Friday and arrested Shapla. Arisa Jannat Zaifa, daughter of Interior Ministry employee Farzana Akhter, 33, was rescued from there and handed over to her family.

Farzana’s relatives said four people, including a woman, abducted the child and took money and some gold ornaments after tying Farzana in her house. She and her daughter were home alone at the time.

At the briefing, Rab spokesperson Lt Col Munim Ferdous said, “About a week ago, Shapla met Farzana while commuting to office and introduced herself as Raisa from Naogaon. She claimed to be unmarried and a second semester BBA student in a university. and said she also worked as an office assistant in the Secretariat’s transport pool.

“Shapla further told Farzana that she needed a room to sublet in Dhaka and if Farzana would rent her a room, she could take care of her child while studying at home.”

He said Farzana agreed as she needed help with her baby and rented a room to Shapla, who paid Tk 2,000 in advance on Thursday and moved out.

The next morning, Shapla told Farzana that her relatives in the village would bring rice to the house. Around 8:30, she brought three men into the house and introduced them as her cousins.

Lt Col Munim said: “Once inside, the four threatened Farzana with sharp weapons, tied her hands and feet with scarves and robbed her of gold, cash and other valuables. On the way out, they took Zaifa.

“Shapla then went to a house in Mohammadpur’s Nabinnagar residence with Zaifa while her accomplices hid. They had planned to demand a ransom of Tk 10 lakh, but when the news of the kidnapping spread quickly through the media and social media platforms, they refrained from making the demand.

“During interrogation, Shapla revealed that the other three are Suman, Hasan and Raihan. They have not been arrested yet.”

Lt Col Munim said the four tracked Farzana’s movements for two weeks before committing the murder.

“They were planning to rob on Thursday but failed because a relative of Farzana was in the house.”

As to whether any family members might be involved, he said the victim’s husband is under surveillance.

“The couple has been living separately for the past four months. However, the husband met his daughter frequently.”

Jashim Uddin, Deputy Commissioner (Lalbagh Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star that abducting a child after a robbery is a new dimension of crime and they will investigate if there are other motives.

According to Rab, Shapla is a housewife, originally from Bogura. After completing her HSC in Dhaka in 2014, she enrolled in college for a degree in marketing, but did not complete the program.

She married her husband Mohammad Selim Hossain in 2023 and moved to his and his family’s house in Nabinnagar Housing area about three to four months ago.