Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office reported new details of the disappearance Ismoiljon Rahmonov, a lecturer at the Dushanbe-based Tajik State University of Commerce, on June 24. 

The Prosecutor-General’s Office reported that the chief of the Department of Analysis and International Relations at the Interior Ministry’s Organized Control Directorate, Lieutenant-Colonel Akmal Yusufzoda, and his relative Ismoiljon Shukurov were arrested on June 15 on suspicion of abduction of a person.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against them under the provisions of Article 130 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – abduction of a person by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, using the force dangerous to health and life; an investigation is under.  

According to a report released by the Prosecutor-General’s Office, Yusufzoda and Shukurov forced Ismoiljon Rahmonov, a lecturer at he the Tajik State University of Commerce, into Yusufzoda’s official car Hyundai Accent on the night of June 12.  They reportedly tied Rahmonov’s hands together and drove towards the Dushanbe-Khujand highway.  

The reportedly stopped the car at the 118th kilometer of the Dushanbe-Khujand highway near Chorei village in Ani district (Sughd province).  They pulled Rahmonov out of the car and threw him into the Fon Daryo River and fled the scene of the incident.  

Rahmonov has not been found yet.  Employees of the Emergencies Committee and other relevant agencies have been involved in the operation for searching the 38-yer-old Ismoiljon Rahmonov, the Prosecutor-General’s Office reported.  

According to the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the incident has stemmed from jealousy.  Rahmonov and Yusufzoda's wife work at the same university.  Rahmonov teaches management at the university and Yusufzoda's wife teaches English.