Sweety (top), Helal. Pictures by Kaushik Pramanik

Krishnagar, Jan. 25: An unlettered mother from Bangladesh was today reunited with her 11-year-old boy after several months, the result of her determined effort to free him from his abductors.

The CID last night arrested Dalim Biswas, a middle-aged woman, and her son Asit from a Nadia village and rescued Helal, the son of Sweety Begum who got a passport made and came to Calcutta to complain to Bangladesh high commission officials and get her boy back.

Sitting in a hotel in Nadia, 45-year-old Sweety, a resident of Barguna district in southern Bangladesh, said she first met Dalim in February last year. Her timber supplier husband Mujibur Rahaman had met Dalim at Meherpur in Khulna district of Bangladesh.

Although she was a stranger, Mujibur invited Dalim to stay with his family. She agreed and stayed with Sweety and Mujibur for two months.

Dalim told the family she stayed in Kamarhat, which falls under Khulna division in Bangladesh. This was a lie Sweety found out later. “After staying with us for two months, Dalim insisted that my son and I should go to Kamarhat with her. My husband agreed and so we set off,” said Sweety.

The Bangladeshi woman said that on the way, Dalim drugged Helal and her and they became unconscious.

A police officer in Nadia said Dalim smuggled Sweety and Helal across the border to Sahapur village in Nadia’s Tehatta, which is very close to the Bangladesh border.

Sweety said when she came to, she found herself in an “unknown place” in India. “Now Dalim seemed like a different person. She told us that we had crossed the border illegally and threatened to hand me over to the police,” she said.

“She then called up my husband in Bangladesh and demanded Rs 5 lakh for our release. My husband was scared we would be killed and so assured her that he was trying to arrange for the money.”

Dalim allegedly kept her and Helal confined to a house. After three months, Dalim told them one day that she would let them return home. “We were taken to the border at night. She let me cross over but at the last minute held back Helal. She told me he would be released later,” Sweety said.

“I had no money, no food. I begged for food and money and somehow reached home after 10 days. Dalim again called us demanding Rs 5 lakh to release my son.”

Sweety, though, stayed determined to get her son back.

She first got a passport made. On January 17, she came to Calcutta and contacted the Bangladesh deputy high commissioner. “We lodged a complaint with the inspector-general of the CID,” said Abul Hasan Mridha, a secretary at the deputy high commission.

The CID and the police arrested Dalim and Asit after raiding their house yesterday. Helal was found at their relative’s house in Sahapur.

The two are in judicial custody.