Mob beating leaves 2 dead in Narsingdi: locals claim they were robbers, family says murder

Two men -- suspected to be robbers -- were killed after being beaten up by a mob at Belabo upazila in Narsingdi last night.

The deceased were identified as Jewel Mia (30) and Nadim Mia (30), of Raipura upazila of the district.

Though locals claimed that they were robbers, family members of Jewel said he was called out from his house and killed.

Shafayat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Belabo Police Station, said a road stretching from Dorikandi bus stand to Borochar on Dhaka-Sylhet highway is infamous for frequent robberies.

Around 8:00pm last night, locals claimed to have spotted an auto-rickshaw, carrying three to four men with sharp weapons. As they shouted "robbers", a mob gathered from nearby areas immediately, the OC said quoting the locals.

The people in the auto-rickshaw got panicked, got off and tried to flee. The mob caught two of them and beat them up severely -- leaving them dead, the OC said, adding the mob also set the three-wheeler on fire.

The bodies were later sent to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for autopsy.

However, at the morgue, Jewel's sister Pariskar Begum today alleged that the deceased were called out from their houses and killed.

She, however, could not say who called them yesterday.