3 people give confessional statements over lynching in Lalmonirhat

Three people - arrested in connection with the lynching of a man for "disrespecting the Quran" in Lalmonirhat's Burimari - gave confessional statements before the court on Sunday, reports UNB.

Ferdousi Begum, senior judicial magistrate of Lalmonirhat cognizance court-3, recorded their statement including the one of local mosque's khadem.

Earlier, the three-day remand of Jobed Ali, 61, and Mehedi Hasan Raju, 19, ended on Saturday while Abdul Goni, 45, gave a confessional statement before the court.

On 29 October, Shahidunnabi Jewel, former librarian of Rangpur Cantonment Public School and College, was beaten to death by a mob in Patgram upazila after some people accused him of "disrespecting the Quran." They also burned his body.

Jewel's cousin Saiful Islam filed a case with Patgram police station on 31 October. Two more cases were also lodged in this connection and a three-member probe body was formed to look into the incident.

Meanwhile, the local administration on Sunday handed over a cheque of Tk 20,000 to Jewel's family. His daughter Zeba Tasnia received it from deputy commissioner Abu Zafor.

While receiving the support, Zeba called for strict punishment of those involved in the incident.

Jewel's brother Tawhidunnabi also demanded justice and immediate steps to conclude the trial proceedings.

Detectives arrested four more people in connection with the lynching of Jewel from different parts of Patgram on Saturday night.

The arrestees are Hasanur Rahman, 25, Abdur Rahim, 22, Sohel Rana, 20 and Mainul Islam, 26.

So far, 25 people have been arrested in three separate cases filed over the lynching. Of them, 18 were sent to jail while nine were placed in remand.

Detectives arrested the prime accused Abul Hossain, 45, from the capital's Kuril Biswa Road on early Saturday.

Sumonto Kumar Mohonto, officer-in-charge of Patgram police station, said Abul will be produced before the court on Monday.