'Four cops beaten by Savar mob'

Four policemen of Dhamrai were reportedly beaten by a mob as they allegedly attempted to stop a concert organised early yesterday at Vatirchar village of Singair in Manikganj, an area beyond Dhamrai police's jurisdiction.

Locals said Ansar Ali, a resident of the area, organised the concert on the bank of the Bangshi River that drew around 4,000 people on the occasion of his son's marriage.

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The four policemen -- assistant sub-inspectors Masud Rana and Liton Hossain and two constables -- got there around midnight and asked the organisers if they had approval for the concert.

The organisers could not show any government approval.

Bangla daily the Prothom Alo reported that the policemen then demanded money from the organisers. When the organisers refused to give any money, the policemen disconnected the speakers.

Angry spectators then swooped on the policemen and began beating them.

Anik Sarker, who attended the concert, told The Daily Star that Ansar Ali and his men confined the four policemen in a nearby house.

Kalipada Sarker, union parishad chairman of Kulla Union in Singair, said he sent a UP member and several others to Vatirchar around 1:30am on information about the policemen being confined.

As the people refused to let them go, Kalipada took the initiative to go to free the policemen himself.

"Midway, I learnt that the policemen were freed," Kalipada told The Daily Star.

As it was late in the night, he then took the policemen to his residence where they stayed the night.

Kalipada said he did not know if the police demanded money or if they were beaten at the concert venue.

Asked, Rezaul Haque, officer in charge, Dhamrai Police Station said he did not know anything about the incident.

Dhaka Additional Police Superintendent (Savar Circle) Khorshed Alam said he too had no idea about it, but that they were looking into the matter.