A former Jubo Dal leader, Kawsar Hawlader, 32, has been hacked to death in Wazirpur, Barishal, allegedly over an earlier feud. Nine people have been taken into police custody on suspicion of involvement, from a microbus bearing the logo of a private television channel.
The attack took place at around 9:30pm on Friday (23 October) beside Shah Alam’s tea stall in the West Satla area of Satla union in the upazila.
Kawsar was the son of Monafser Hawlader of Alamdi village in the upazila. He was a member of the Satla union Jubo Dal.
Those in police custody are Sajal Molla, 38; Shamim Molla, 36; Tariqul Islam, 30; Sohag Hossain, 30; Sagar Sheikh, 26; Hasib Sheikh, 30; Habib Sheikh, 18; Mahbubur Rahman, 50; and Sharif Hossain, 30.
According to local sources, a few days earlier Ashikul Hawlader, Kawsar Hawlader, Rashed Amin Hawlader and several others from Alamdi are alleged to have beaten Sajal Molla over a trivial matter. Sajal’s brother Iqbal Hossain Nanna, who lives in Saudi Arabia, is then alleged to have posted vengeful and provocative statuses on Facebook. He returned home from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
At around 10am on Friday, Ashikul, Kawsar and Rashed were accused of beating Iqbal and his son Sajid Molla in the Ekota Bazar area over the earlier dispute. The feud between the two sides grew sharper after that.
According to local sources, on hearing of this, Sajal and Shamim set out from Dhaka for Wazirpur in a microbus. Later, finding Kawsar beside Shah Alam’s tea stall in West Satla, Sajal, Shamim and those with them are alleged to have attacked him with sharp weapons and then left the scene. Locals took Kawsar to the Kotalipara upazila health complex in Gopalganj, where the doctor on duty declared him dead.
Nine people were reportedly taken into police custody as they fled in a microbus bearing a private television channel’s logo after the killing.
Rakibul Islam, officer in charge of Wazirpur Model police station, said: “Nine people have so far been taken into police custody over the incident. An investigation is under way.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report