2 men killed in ‘lynching’ during police raid

Two people were killed in what police called mob beating during their raid at Jorgachha village in Santhia upazila of Pabna early Saturday.

The deceased are identified as Shahin alias Holka Shahin, 45 from the village and Masir Uddin, 35, from an unknown place.

One of the deceased, Shahin was a listed criminal and an accused in six cases while another was involved with terror activities, police claimed. They, however, could not say the number of cases filed against Masir as they could not learn his address immediately.

Police said acting on a tip off about a meeting of several listed criminals, one of its teams conducted a drive in Jorgachha village around 12:00am to arrest them.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcement, they tried to flee the scene. At that time, hundreds of local people held Masir Uddin and beat him up. About four of Masir’s cohorts jumped into the Sechkhal (canal) but the villagers held Shahin from there and beat him up, police said.

Police rescued critically injured Masir and Shahin and took to Santhia Upazila Health Complex. From there they were shifted to Pabna Sadar Hospital where they died.

Confirming the lynching, Sheikh Zillur Rahman, additional superintendent of police at Bera circle, said, “Police were looking for listed criminal Shahin for a long time. Masir also is a terror suspect but as of now we couldn’t learn his address. This is why we have no information about his crimes.”

With the help of local people police recovered a shutter gun from the spot, he added.

“We suspect they had more arms with them. They probably threw those into the Sechkhal while jumping into it. We’ll try to recover those today (Saturday),” Sheikh Zillur said.

Source: Prothom Alo