A case has been filed and three suspects have been arrested after a man was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of being a child kidnapper in the Rayermahal area of Khulna city.
The victim, identified as Raju Biswas, was assaulted on Tuesday afternoon and later died while undergoing treatment at Khulna Medical College Hospital. His father has alleged that his son was killed by engineering a deliberate “mob” under the pretext of child kidnapping.
According to police and local sources, the incident occurred around 2:30pm on Tuesday near the Big Mosque in Rayermahal under the jurisdiction of Arongghata Police Station. A child named Mim was walking in the area when several of her neighbours, who are related to her as paternal uncles, saw her with an unfamiliar man. Suspicious of the situation, they began shouting “child lifter”, prompting a crowd to gather, detain the man, and assault him. The assault quickly escalated into a mass lynching.
Witnesses to the beating called the national emergency service 999. Although a police team dispatched to the location specified in the call could not find him there initially, they later traced his whereabouts.
However, local residents initially refused to hand Raju over to the authorities. Police eventually rescued him by force and rushed him to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries at approximately 6pm.
Following the incident, the victim’s father filed a case on Tuesday night, naming seven individuals and accusing an additional seven to eight unidentified people. By Wednesday afternoon, police had arrested three suspects: Ibrahim, a local garage owner, Zillu, and Milon Sheikh.
Sonadanga Circle Assistant Commissioner of Police Md Humayun Kabir said two of the suspects, Zillu and Milon Sheikh, were arrested after they went to the police station to file a case themselves. Ibrahim was arrested on Wednesday afternoon.
The assistant commissioner of Police added that the child, Mim, is the daughter of divorced parents and lives with her grandmother. “It is not yet known what Raju’s relationship was with the child. We have initially learned that Raju was walking with her.
When her uncles spotted them and raised an alarm, locals gathered and beat him, which subsequently turned into a mob lynching,” the officer said. He added that an investigation is underway to determine whether the incident was triggered by child-kidnapping rumours or if it was a pre-planned murder.
A police source also revealed that two other unidentified youths were accompanying Raju but fled the scene when the mob began the assault.
Although the killing has been described as mysterious, the Officer-in-Charge of Arongghata Police Station was unable to provide journalists with any specific information regarding the case.
Following an autopsy on Wednesday afternoon, the police handed over Raju’s body to his family, who then departed for their home in Phultala.
