At least three people including a local Udichi leader and a local Awami League activist have been killed in three separate incidents in Chittagong.
The deceased are Dipankar Chandra Dey, 61, president of Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi's Sitakunda upazila unit, Abdul Jahed, 45, businessman and a member of the local Awami League in Chittagong city, and Zahir Ahmed, 45, police sources said.
Dipankar's body was found hanging from the ceiling from a house in Sitakunda’s Ghoramara Pakka Masjid area around 12:30pm Tuesday, police said.
Quoting locals, Sub-Inspector Ashraful Alam of Sitakunda police station said Dipankar, who used to work at Sandhani Life Insurance Company Ltd's Sitakunda branch, went into hiding in 2009 after collecting around Tk7-8 lakh of insurance money from several clients.
On Monday evening, one of his clients found Dipankar in a public bus and took him hostage, taking him into the house to get back his/her lost money.
“Later, we received a tip-off and went to the house, where we found Dipankar's body hanging from the ceiling by a pair of jeans,” the sub-inspector said.
“Preliminary investigation suggests that he committed suicide. However, his body has been sent to Chittagong Medical College (CMCH) Hospital for an autopsy. After we get the autopsy report, we will be able to confirm whether it was a suicide or a murder.”
He further said a woman named Tahera Begum was arrested from the house, who was allegedly another client of Dipankar's. A case of unnatural death has been filed with police in this regard.
The Awami League activist, Abdul Jahed, was allegedly killed over the matter of supremacy in his area, police said.
“A group of his rivals shot Zahed inside his house at Sadarghat area in the city around 12:30am, over a dispute of establishing supremacy in the area,” said Md Mainuddin, assistant commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police.
“He was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital in a critical condition by his family members, where the on-duty doctors pronounced him dead.”
Police detained a man named Mujib in this connection, an appropriate legal process is underway, he added.
The third victim, Zahir Ahmed, was beaten to death by a mob, who suspected him to be a cattle thief, at Dhamairhat in Rangunia uapzila early Tuesday, said Sub-Inspector Abdur Rashid of Rangunia police station.
“Zahir was taken to the CMCH in a critical condition, where the doctors declared him dead,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
The body was sent for an autopsy, and police are taking appropriate action in this regard, he added.
