KAJANG: Four Bangladeshis and a local woman were charged at the Magistrate’s Court with abducting a Bangladeshi male and demanding one million Bangladeshi taka (about RM50,000) ransom in August.

       Those charged were couple Josim, 32, and Faridah Jeya Sly Ramesh (local woman), Md Raihan Hosen, 28, Miah Soraf, 33, and Nusrat Jahan Bipasha, 26.

       They nodded when the charges were read out to them by a court interpreter before Magistrate Syahrul Sazly Md Sain.

       No plea was recorded from all the accused because the scope of the case is under the jurisdiction of the High Court.

       They were accused of kidnapping Md Sohel Rana, 39, in front of a supermarket in Jalan Damai Mewah 1A here at 8.30pm on Aug 27.

       They are being charged under Section 3(1) of the Kidnapping Act 1961 which was read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment. If not sentenced to death they may be subject to whipping, if convicted.

       The court set Oct 7 for re-mention of the case.

       The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Nurul Husna Amran while Md Raihan and Josim were represented by lawyer Tan Cheng Yee. The three others were not represented.

       Earlier, the media had reported that a Bangladeshi man was abducted for almost one week by his compatriots and was found in a weakened state in a house in Bandar Teknologi here. — Bernama