Agitated guardians of St Gregory High School students set fire to illegal shops at Lakshmibazar in the capital yesterday, protesting the death of a guardian of one of the school students.
They also formed a human chain in front of the school wearing black badges, protesting the death.
Shah Jamal, 45, father of Sakib Hossain, a class four student of the school, died on Wednesday after a minibus ran over him when he was taking his son to school at Noyabazar area.
A case was filed with Bangshal police station in this regard and the driver of the minibus was arrested soon after the incident.
Addressing the human chain, the guardians alleged that they were forced to walk on roads as some influential people set up illegal shops on footpath, leading to the death of some innocent people. Later, the agitated guardians set fire on around 50 illegal shops in the area.
On information, two fire fighting units from Sadarghat fire station rushed to the spot and doused the flame around 9am, said Nilufar Yeasmin, duty officer of fire service and civil defence.
Following an investigation, it was learned that members of Sutrapur police and Faridabad police outpost separately take Tk20 toll daily from this illegal shop owners. Lineman Islam of Faridabad police outpost takes Tk20 around 11am daily, while two other linemen Habil and Faruk take rest Tk20 toll for Sutrapur police station.
Besides, local Bishu group takes Tk20-200 toll from different shops daily. They also take Tk5,000-20,000 per shop during their establishment.
Contacted, Khalilur Rahman Patwary, officer-in-charge of Sutrapur police station, refused the allegation and told the Dhaka Tribune that if any proof was given against any of their officials, actions would be taken against them.
