DHAKA: State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday said that father of the ill-fated child Jihad was quizzed by the law enforcers to unveil the mystery.

The intention was positive but necessary steps will be taken if he was harassed by police.

Asaduzzaman Khan made the statement to the journalists at the secretariat where Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hasan Mahmud Khandaker was present as well.

Earlier on Friday afternoon, the three and a half-year-old Jihad fell into an abandoned 17-inch diameter shaft of WASA in city’s Shahjahanpur area. He was rescued dead on Saturday afternoon.

However, earlier on Friday night, the fire fighters and the authorized rescue team tried to search Jihad’s existence by setting cameras in the hole but failed.

Sequentially, the law enforcers took Jihad’s father to their custody for questioning. He was allegedly kept there for 12 hours and tortured mentally by police.

Fire service failed to rescue him after 23 hours frantic effort and called off the operation.

Just after 15 minutes, when fire service left the hope of rescuing the boy, three local pump cleaners of a private company -- Rahmat, Abdullah Al Mamun and Sujan Das rescued the kid around 3:00pm by their brave efforts.

Immediately after he had been rescued, the trapped Jihad was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

However, answering the question of journalists, Asaduzzaman said that he does not know about any torture of police to Jihad’s father.

“If the allegation of torture is true then it’s sorrowful”, he said.

IGP Hasan Mahmud Khandaker said that Jihad’s father was questioned cordially in a positive manner. However, if any allegation comes true against police then necessary steps will be taken, he assured.

The IGP also said that the other children who played with Jihad on Friday were also questioned to unveil the fact.

BDST: 1828 HRS, DEC 28, 2014