Lalmonirhat mob lynching: 5 more arrested

Police arrested five more people for their involvement with the brutal murder of Abu Yunus Md Shahidunnabi Jewel in Lalmonirhat.

Including them, a total of 21 people have so far been arrested in the three cases filed over the  mob lynching incident in Burimari union of Lalmonirhat's Patgram, where the poor man was lynched and immolated over rumours of Quran desecration.

The arrestees are identified as Motahar Hossain, 19, Rabiul Islam, 40, Hasem Ali, 52, Ariful Islam, 17 and Lazu, 35, confirmed Suman Kumar Mahanta, officer-in-charge of Patgram police station.

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They were arrested from different areas of the district after conducting drives, the OC said.

“They were sent to jail after being produced before the court,” said OC Suman.

Of the arrestees, two are accused in the murder case while three were arrested after scrutinising the video footage, OC Suman added.

On October 29, Abu Yunus Md Shahidunnabi Jewel, 50, was beaten to death by an angry mob at the Burimari Union Parishad premises in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat.

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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, as rumours of Quran desecration spread, according to Patgram Upazila Nirbahi Officer Kamrun Nahar.

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

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

During the ongoing investigation by the NHRC, its director of investigation Al Mahmud Faizul Kabir, on Sunday said they have not yet found any proof of Quran desecration.