Forest official, 4 others beaten by grabber's men

A forest beat officer and four others were beaten up allegedly by the men of a local land grabber as they tried to stop construction on a land at a forest at Boiragir Char village in Sreepur upazila of Gazipur district yesterday.

The injured are forest beat officer Rafiqul Islam, 35, forest guard Anwar Hossain, 50, Md Azharul Haque, 45, Md Sajidur Rahman, 35, and Md Jahangir Alam, 35. They were admitted to the upazila health complex.

Forest Range Officer of Sreepur Mozammel Haque alleged that one Jahirul Islam, son of Sukkur Ali of Baoiragichala Uttarpara village, constructed a house occupying the khas land at midnight.

When the four went to stop construction of the house in the morning, a gang allegedly led by Jahirul beat them up mercilessly, he said.

They were later taken to the hospital, said the forest official.

Refuting the allegation, Jahirul said he has been living there for about two decades. He paid taxes of the land until Bangla year 1422.

He claimed that while strengthening a pillar of the land, a few bitter words were exchanged with the forests officials.

Preparation to file a case with Sreepur Police Station was going on in this regard as of filing of this report around 6:00pm yesterday.