Lalmonirhat lynching: Key suspect on 5-day remand

A court in Lalmonirhat has issued a five-day remand to the key accused in connection with the brutal murder of Abu Yunus Md Shahidunnabi Jewel by mob lynching in Lalmonirhat.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Court Judge Ferdousi Begum issued the order on Monday afternoon around 3pm in the presence of the key accused, Abul Hossain, after police pleaded before the court.

“We asked for a five-day remand and the court has issued accordingly, so that we can investigate the incident properly,” said Lalmonirhat Detective Branch Inspector Md Mahmudunnabi, also the investigation officer of the case.

On Saturday, Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) apprehended Abul Hossain alias Hossain Ali, 45, in Dhaka's Kuril Bishwa Road area, confirmed DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media) Walid Hossain.

Abul Hossain is the key accused in two of the three cases filed in connection to the incident that took place in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat on October 29. With this latest apprehension, a total of 23 people have so far been arrested in this regard.

Jewel, 50, was beaten to death by an angry mob on the Burimari Union Parishad premises over rumours of Quran desecration.

The mob then took his body some 300 metres away to the Prothom Bashkol area on Lalmonirhat-Burimari highway and set it on fire, fuelled with dried materials, tyres, and petrol.

Over a thousand people were present during the incident, including people from outside Lalmonirhat, according to Patgram Upazila Nirbahi Officer Kamrun Nahar.

On October 31, the victim's cousin Saiful Alam filed a case naming 43 people and hundreds unknown, Burimari Union Parishad Chairman Abu Syed Newaz Nishat filed another case naming 22 people and hundreds unknown while Patgram police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Md Shahjahan filed yet another case.

Two probe committees - one by the district administration and another by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) - were formed to investigate the incident.

Meanwhile, the NHRC said they have not yet found any proof of Quran desecration.