At least 25 people, including the district superintendent of police (SP) and a local officer-in-charge (OC), were injured as an angry mob clashed with law enforcement on Tuesday following the alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Aditmari upazila.
The violence turned Phalimari village into a battlefield for nearly three hours, forcing police to fire sound grenades. The mob also vandalized eight government vehicles, including the car of the deputy commissioner (DC).
Police have taken the prime suspect, a local youth identified as Bidhan Chandra, and his father into custody.
According to police and local sources, the victim, the seven-year-old daughter of a villager from Pharisharani, went missing on Monday afternoon. After an overnight search, villagers on Tuesday morning noticed freshly disturbed soil in a neighbouring maize field. Upon digging, they recovered the child’s body stuffed inside a sack. Police later recovered the body and sent it to Lalmonirhat Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Suspicion quickly fell on Bidhan Chandra, a suspected drug addict, who was reportedly seen leaving the maize field with a spade on Monday evening and had since gone missing. An enraged mob later tracked him to his residence, broke in after finding the doors locked from the outside, and detained him.
When police arrived and took the suspect into custody, the crowd turned violent, demanding immediate vigilante justice. The mob surrounded the police vehicle, trapping the initial team along with a responding Crime Scene Unit.
As the standoff escalated, reinforcements from Sadar, Kaliganj and the Detective Branch (DB), along with two units of the Fire Service and personnel from Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), rushed to the scene. However, they were also blockaded by the crowd.
District and upazila officials, including Deputy Commissioner Rashedul Haque Pradhan and BGB 15 Battalion Commander Lt Col Mehedi Imam, arrived to defuse the situation but were similarly trapped. The delegation remained under siege for around three hours, during which the mob continued repeated attacks.
To break the siege and extract the suspect and his father, law enforcement conducted baton charges and fired three rounds of sound grenades to disperse the crowd.
In retaliation, the mob hurled bricks and stones at the convoy. Lalmonirhat SP Asaduzzaman and Aditmari Police Station OC Nazmul Haque were among at least 20 police personnel injured. Several government vehicles were also severely vandalised.
“I was present at the scene from the morning and sustained injuries from a thrown brick,” SP Asaduzzaman said, confirming that multiple officers were injured and vehicles damaged. “We were forced to fire three rounds of sound grenades to bring the situation under control.”
He added that the OC of Aditmari Police Station has been withdrawn following the incident. Two separate cases are being filed—one over the rape and murder of the child and another against those involved in the attack on law enforcement and obstruction of official duties.
DC Rashedul Haque said a thorough investigation would be conducted and assured that exemplary punishment for the perpetrators would be ensured under the law. A heavy security presence remains in the area as tensions continue to run high.
