A businessman named Md Rokunuzzaman died in police custody after being arrested at his residence in Chittagong city’s Bakalia early yesterday.
Rokun, 45, was a local land trader, said family and police sources.
Family members claimed that the police team, led by Sub-Inspector Amir Hossain of Panchlaish police station, picked up Rokun around 12:30am saying he was an accused in a rape case filed with the police station on June 5.
Around 2am, police informed Rokun’s family that his body was at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, said Shimu Akhter, his wife. She claimed that police had beaten her husband to death on the way to the police station.
However, Harun-or-Rashid Hajaree, deputy commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, denied the allegations.
“When Rokun was asked to go to the police station, he asked for a few minutes to get dressed. But after entering his bedroom, he felt ill and asked for sugar from his family members. Then police took him to the CMCH instead of the police station,” the deputy commissioner said.
“There were no visible bruises on his body. Everything will be revealed after the post-mortem,” he said.
A case of unnatural death was filed with Panchlaish police station in this regard, said Abu Jafar Mohammad Omar Faruk, OC of the police station.