Sagar Biswas :
Thousands of panic stricken residents of 10 to 12 villages of Araihazar upzila in Narayanganj district have fled away from their houses to avoid police harassment after a murder case was filed against the villagers on charge of Thursday’s mass beating.
It is alleged that the accused villagers were all ‘unnamed’ and many of them even did not take part in the beating that left eight dacoits killed on the spot. At present, most of the shops are closed in the area and the people fear to come out on the street.
“Panic is everywhere. All now fear police harassment. It is because of lodging murder case by the police,” said Chairman of Satgram Wadud Mahmud on Saturday.Two cases have been filed with Araihazar Police Station in this connection. One was filed by the owner of warehouse MA Gafur accusing 20-22 persons for attempt to dacoity. Another case was lodged by Sub Inspector of Araihazar Police Station Abdullah Al Mamun accusing several thousand villagers on charge of Thursday’s mass beating.
The police have handed over the bodies of eight suspected dacoits, killed in mob beating, to their families. Three bodies, out of eight, were handed over on Saturday while five others were given earlier day. “We suspect that a gang of 20-25 dacoits were involved in the incident. Of the dacoits, eight were killed, four have been caught and the rests are on the run,” Officer-in-Charge of Araihazar Police Station Sakhawat Hossain said on Saturday. In fact, the police could not arrest a single person in connection with the dacoity though two days have already been elapsed in the meantime. The ‘arrested’ four dacoits were caught and beaten by the mob. Police only took them to nearby hospital. Superintendent of Police, Narayanganj Khandker Mohid Uddin told The New Nation last night, “It’s true, we [police] can’t arrest anyone of the gang till the date. The four [now arrested] are actually caught by the mob. However, we are conducting massive hunt to nab other members of the gang.”
When asked whether it was occurred to create anarchy in the area, the SP categorically ruled out the possibility of sabotage. “Of the eight dead, four came from Mymensingh, three from Jamalpur and one from Feni. Among the dead, there were two dacoits accused in a dacoity case at Sonargaon. They came here getting bail from court,” the SP said.
About progress of investigation, he said, “The police have identified the owner of truck which was used in the dacoity. Now we are trying to know the name of its driver and helper.”
Meanwhile, there are widespread speculations that the mass beating was the outburst of public anger over the indifferent mood of police towards frequent robberies in the area for last few months. “Although the police have been claiming that there are no law and order situation in Arhaihazar, in fact it is not true. The mob killed the dacoits out of frustration over police inaction. Four houses in Tekpara were robbed in one night only a few months back. There are many such incidents,” according to shop owner Aminul Islam of in Purinda Bazar.
Almost same views were given by dozens of local residents. They said the lynching could have been avoided if the police had reached the spot on time. In this backdrop, the OC of Araihazar Police Station, said, “As per our observation, it was a ‘pure dacoity’. The dacoits had chosen the warehouse as it was adjacent to Dhaka-Sylhet highway, and secondly there was a stock of rice worth about Tk 3-4 lakh.”
The OC said, “Most of the arrested persons are members of inter-district dacoit gang….I don’t think it was an act of sabotage for creating instability in the country.”
Denying the allegation of slow move, the OC said, “We went to the spot just after getting the news of dacoity. But we were outnumbered by the mob. Four of the dacoits-Manik, Lokman, Sajeeb and Sabbir — were rescued in injured condition and it happened only for our promptness.” “We have got the identities of dead [dacoits] by tracking mobile phone and interrogating the detainees. Now, we are trying to identify the villagers who were involved in mass beating. However, it doesn’t need to be panicked for innocent villagers,” the OC said.
