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The video shows five men launch a lightning attack on an elderly man with canes and a metal rod, repeatedly hitting him on the arms and legs as he tries to protect himself with his bare hands.
The time stamp on the CCTV image shows that the attack took place on September 18 around 6:40pm.
Immediately after being floated on Facebook, the footage went viral and comments and opinions from angered netizens started pouring in.At one point, a young man in a red shirt comes to the rescue and tries to prevent the perpetrators from continuing to beat him. Eventually, he manages to fend off the attackers, taking a severe beating in the process.
The injured man appears to be in shock and stumbles into a chair.
After a brief lull in the violence, the footage shows one of the attackers return. He repeatedly strikes the now injured man who is seen sitting in a chair cradling his injured arm.
The Dhaka Tribune’s Jhenaidah correspondent Nayan Khondoker identified the older man as Muktar Hossain Mridha, 65, and the young man with the red shirt as Golam Morshed Mridha, 30, from Kripalpur village under Abaipur union of the district’s Shailkupa upazila.
They are father and son.
The victim, Muktar Hossain Mridha, was a freedom fighter and a former chairman of Abaipur union. His son is a banker, according to our correspondent.
Quoting the officer-in-charge of Shailkupa police station Md Tariqul Islam, Nayan reports that the incident took place in front of Jakir Medico, a pharmacy located in front of Shailkupa Health Complex at the upazila headquarters.
The incident was captured by the shop's CCTV camera, the OC said.
Sumon Mridha, Muktar’s other son, filed a case over the assault on October 19.
In the case statement, he claimed that 10 local politicos, including the upazila vice-chairman, the Jubo League’s upazila unit president, general secretary, Swechchashebak League upazila unit president and Chhatra League upazila unit general secretary were behind the attack.
Sumon told the Dhaka Tribune that the defendants have been threatening his family ever since a Jhenaidah court granted them bail.
The Dhaka Tribune repeatedly attempted to contact Shailkupa police Sub-Inspector Iqbal Hossain, the investigating officer of the case. He has not received the calls.
The Mridhas are being treated at BDM Hospital in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area after being transferred from Jhenaidah General Hospital in serious condition.


