Lawyer beaten to death in Bashundhara area

A lawyer was beaten to death in the Bashundhara Residential Area of the capital on Wednesday night.

Confirming the incident, Bhatara police station sub-inspector (SI) Ariful Islam informed Prothom Alo on Thursday that his name was Nayeem Kibria, 35.

According to police and family members, Nayeem Kibria was a resident of Pabna Sadar upazila. Nayeem Kibria was a practising lawyer at the Pabna district judge’s court.

SI Ariful Islam told Prothom Alo that they had learned Nayeem was driving a private car in the Bashundhara Residential Area at around 10:00 pm on Wednesday. At one point, the car collided with a motorcycle.

Following the collision, the motorcyclist, along with several unidentified youths, dragged Nayeem out of the vehicle, severely beat him, and left him lying on the road before fleeing the scene.

After being informed, Nayeem’s cousin Rafiqur Islam arrived at the scene and rescued him. He was taken to Kurmitola General Hospital, where the attending physicians declared him dead.

Later that night, police recovered the body from the hospital and sent it to the morgue of Dhaka Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Rafiqul Islam said Nayeem was a lawyer at the Pabna judge court. Ten days earlier, Naim had come to Dhaka from Pabna and had been staying at Rafiqul’s residence in Purbachal.

Nayeem had come to Dhaka to seek bail from the High Court in connection with a case filed against him over the 2024 anti-discrimination student movement in Pabna, he said.

Describing the events of Wednesday night, Rafiqul said Nayeem had gone out in a private car belonging to a friend. When Rafiqul later called Nayeem’s mobile phone, a security guard from the Bashundhara area answered and informed him that Nayeem had been assaulted and left on the road.

Rafiqul then rushed to the spot, rescued Nayeem, and took him to hospital, he added.