Narsingdi Correspondent :Seven suspected dacoits were killed and another one received serious injuries in a mass beating at Bhatapara village in Narsingdi Sadar upazila early Monday.The local people caught them red-handed while they were committing dacoity in the village. The identities of the deceased could not be known immediately. The locals also caught red-handed an alleged dacoit and handed over him to the police who is now undergoing treatment at Narsingdi Sadar Hospital in a critical condition. The detained dacoit was identified as Abdur Rahim, 34, son of Shamsul Alam, inhabitant of Araihazar upazila in Narayanganj district, police said. “A gang of at least 23 to 24 dacoits swooped on the house of Anisur Rahman, a local Transport Businessman, in Panchhadana near Takshal area around 2:55am. Hearing Akbar’s scream, locals rushed to the spot and beat the dacoits after a brief chase, Amena Begum, Superintendent of Police [SP] of Narsingdi, said last night.”The news of dacocty was also announced over the loudspeaker from a nearby mosque around 3:00am. The villagers were asked to help catch the dacoits in the area. Hearing the announcement, the dacoits exploded crude bombs to create panic in the area,” the SP said.The locals managed to capture eight of them and beat them up severely, leaving seven dead on the spot. Police rushed to the spot following information and rescued the injured. The law enforcers also recovered the bodies and sent those to Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy. “A boy sustained minor splinter injuries during the crude bomb attack by the dacoits. Some intact crude bombs and locally-made fire arms were recovered from the area,” the SP further said. Local resident, Anisur Rahman registered a case against the dacoits and some unknown people with the Sadar Police Station on Monday afternoon. Harun-ar-Rashid, Sub-Inspector (SI) of the police station is investigating the case.Police sources said, at least 12 cases were pending against injured dacoit Abdur Rahim with several police stations, including Araihazar Police Station. The law enforcing agencies, including Detective Branch [DB] of Police, suspected that the dacoits might have connection with the inter-district dacoit’s gang.Meanwhile, the locals alleged that the incidents of dacoities have been increased in the villages of Narsingdi in recent days where the law enforcers often remain silent. At least nine dacoities have occurred in last three days in the Bhatapara and its adjacent villages where the residents lost huge amount of cash and other valuables, sources said. There is widespread allegation that the police and other law enforcement agencies’ members remain busy most of the time in making extra money in spite of providing security to the villagers. Getting no response from the local administration, the villagers recently formed protection committees to save themselves from the dacoits. The committee members used to patrol the localities with bamboo sticks and torches in the night.It is learnt that the dacoits were trapped when they took an attempt to commit dacoity in the village defying the security cordon of local committee members. Earlier, at least six college students had beaten to death by a local mob suspecting them to be robbers in Aminbazar on the outskirts of the capital on July 18 in 2011. All of them were reportedly meritorious students in several colleges and private universities.
