A three-member committee has been formed to investigate the mob killing of two men in Taraganj upazila of Rangpur district on 9 August over allegations of theft.
Rangpur Superintendent of Police Abu Saim said on Wednesday night that the probe panel is led by C-Circle Assistant Superintendent of Police Asifa Afroz Adhri, with instructions to submit the report within three working days. Officer-in-charge of Taraganj Police Station MA Faruk and another police official will assist in the investigation.
Earlier on Wednesday night, eight police personnel, including two sub-inspectors, were suspended for alleged negligence during the incident. Those suspended are Taraganj Police Station sub-inspectors Abu Zobayer and Shafiqul Islam, and constables Farikud Akhtar Zaman, Dhiraj Kumar Roy, Hasan Ali, Firoz Kabir, Moktar Hossain and Babul Chandra Roy. They have been attached to the district police lines.
SI Abu Zobayer, who was the investigating officer in a case filed over the lynching, has also been removed from his duties. Inspector (Investigation) Rafiqul Islam has been appointed as the new investigating officer.
According to police, the victims, Ruplal Das and his son-in-law Pradip Das, were beaten to death by villagers on the Taraganj–Kazirhat road in Bottola around 9:30pm on 9 August. Locals suspected them of theft after finding four plastic bottles in their rickshaw van, one of which emitted an odour that allegedly made two locals, Alamgir Hossain and Mehedi Hasan, feel unwell.
Family members said Ruplal’s eldest daughter, Nupur Das, was engaged to Dipjol Das from the Shyampur area in Mithapukur upazila. Pradip Das, Ruplal’s nephew-in-law, had travelled from Mithapukur to finalise the marriage date. Confused about the route in Taraganj, Pradip contacted Ruplal, who joined him, and they continued towards Ghanirampur village in Mithapukur.
Around 9pm, villagers stopped them in Bottola and later attacked them. Both men died from the beating.
Police have arrested four people, and two separate cases have been filed over the incident.