The detainee, Rasel Sardar, 28, of Madaripur's Kunder Char, made the bizarre claim hoping to earn a quick buck, Shreenagar police Inspector Mojibur Rahman said on Friday.

Sardar told police that a cameraman had suggested he could get Tk 20,000 if he could establish himself as a Pinak-6 passenger, rescued after five days.

Passenger ferry Pinak sank on Monday with over 300 people on board. Only 110 had been rescued and over 100 others remained unaccounted for, according to official figures.

Around Friday noon, Sardar showed up at the Mawa ferry terminal to put his plan into action and started wailing for 'his brother and sister-in-law' who were on the launch.

When journalists and local administration officials approached him, he identified himself as 'Sarowar' of Shibchar Upazila and claimed he was on the ill-fated vessel.

He said he was a survivor of the disaster and had been searching various places for his brother and sister-in-law for the past five days.

According to his fabricated story, he was on the way to Dhaka with the other two. He was at the front part of the vessel while the other two were inside the launch when the mishap occurred.

"Many people jumped into the river when the launch started sinking. Someone pushed me from behind and I fell into the river.

"I held on to a buoy to prevent myself from drowning. At that time a speedboat came and rescued me. I was dropped at Shibchar area," he had claimed.

The story stirred the rescuers.

The Navy took him to the river to identify the accident spot. Various TV channels ran reports on him.

But the truth came out after police interrogated him.

A case was filed against him on charges of fraud.

Inspector Rahamn said Sardar did not appear to be someone who had been searching frantically for his relatives for the past five days without food.

"He was clean shaved.

"During the interrogation he admitted to his crime. He said he had staged this drama for money promised by some other people," said the police officer.