Lalmonirhat mob killing: 3 cases filed
Rangpur divisional commissioner and deputy inspector general of police (DIG) of Rangpur Range visited the spot where a rabid and belligerent mob beat a man to death and burned his body in Lalmonirhat's Patgram upazila accusing him of 'disrespecting the Quran', reports UNB.
Rangpur DC Abdul Wahab and police DIG Devdas Bhattacharya also attended a meeting with all the imams of the upazila.
DC Abdul Wahab said when such a trivial matter turns into such a destructive incident, it is the failure of the local administration.
So far, seven people have been arrested, three cases have been filed and investigation is underway over the matter, said the DIG.
"Victim's brother and sub-inspector of Patram police station also filed two separate cases, all cases are under process," he added.
On Thursday, a mob beat the victim Shahidunnabi Jewel to death and burned his body near the Burimari Bazar Central Mosque.
Shahidunnabi, son of Abdul Wazed Mia of Shalban Mistripara in Rangpur district town, was a former librarian of Rangpur Cantonment Public School and College.
Police said Jewel came to Burimari in the afternoon with Sultan Zubair Abdar. After offering Asr prayer at the central mosque, he went to get a Quran from a shelf.
As he tried to pick one out, a number of Quranic and Hadith books fell at his feet, leading to an argument between him and the Muezzin.
Locals took Jewel and Sultan to the union parishad office adjacent to the mosque as the argument escalated.
At one stage, the mob broke into the union parishad office. They broke open the door and beat Jewel to death on the spot.
The mob did not stop there. It dragged the body to the Patgram-Burimari highway and set it on fire. The people also demonstrated in the area.
On information, police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and firefighters rushed to the spot but failed to take control of the situation. Police also fired 17 blank shots to disperse the mob. Ten policemen, including the OC, were injured as the mob kept hurling brick chips. Police rescued Sultan, the victim's friend, and sent him to a local hospital for treatment.