Night guard burnt alive during robbery

A night guard patrolling shops at a market in Daudkandi upazila of Comilla has been burnt alive reportedly by robbers. Shopkeepers at New Market, Gouripur Bazar discovered the dead body of Shafikul Islam, 40, on Sunday morning. The shopkeepers said they found Shafikul’s burnt body on the staircase, with scotch tape over his mouth and a bottle of petrol lying next to him. They believed the robbers set the guard on fire because he tried to stop them. Shafikul, the son of Amin Uddin, was from west Daudkandi. One of the shop owners reported items missing from his shop, Riva Telecom. Other shopkeepers also said they found the shutters of the Riva Telecom showroom partially broken when they arrived in the morning. Comilla’s Assistant Police Superintendent Mohidul Islam confirmed that Shafikul’s mouth was taped over, his body burned, and that a bottle was lying nearby, but “whether the bottle contained petrol or not has to be verified through a test at the lab,” he said. “One of the shops had its shutters partially broken but the opening was not large enough for a person to enter. We have to investigate the area before we can give any further information,” he said.