Police arrested two more people early today in connection with the mob killing of Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh’s Bhaluka upazila.
With the latest arrests, law enforcers have so far held 12 people for their alleged involvement in the murder, police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) sources said.
Rab earlier arrested seven people in connection with the beating death of Dipu, according to a statement issued by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing yesterday.
The arrestees are Md Limon Sarkar, 19; Md Tarek Hossain, 19; Md Manik Mia, 20; Ershad Ali, 39; Nijum Uddin, 20; Alamgir Hossain, 38; and Md Miraj Hossain Akon, 46. Rab-14 arrested them during raids at different locations, the statement said.
In separate drives over the past two days, police arrested five others for their alleged involvement in the incident. They are Azmol Hasan Sagir, 26; Md Shaheen Mia, 19; Ashik, 25; Kaium, 25; and Md Nazmul, 21, said Abdullah Al Mamun, additional superintendent of police (admin and finance), Mymensingh.
All the arrestees have been handed over to Bhaluka Police Station and are being interrogated, the official added.
Dipu, 27, a garment worker, was beaten to death by a mob in Bhaluka on Thursday night over allegations of “hurting religious sentiments”.
The additional superintendent of police said a factory official informed Bhaluka police that a group of workers began assaulting Dipu inside the factory around 8:00pm, accusing him of making “derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH)”.
Factory sources claimed the attackers later dragged Dipu out of the factory, after which local residents also joined the assault, killing him on the spot. They subsequently set his body on fire, leaving it partially burnt.
The victim’s brother, Apu Chandra Das, filed a case with Bhaluka Police Station on Friday, accusing 140–150 unnamed people.
However, Company Commander of Rab-14 in Mymensingh Md Samsuzzaman yesterday told The Daily Star earlier that no evidence was found indicating that the deceased had written anything on Facebook that might have hurt religious sentiments.
He also said that local people or other workers of the garment factory could not point to any such activity either.
“Everyone is now saying that they did not personally hear him (Dipu) say anything of that sort. No one has been found who claims to have heard or seen anything themselves hurting religion,” he added.
He further said, “When the situation became volatile, he was forcibly pushed out of the factory to protect the factory.”
