Mob beating over attempted robbery in Araihazar; pistol and bullets recovered

A local mob arrested two youths in Araihazar upazila on charges of attempted robbery and gang-raped them. Later, the police recovered a pistol, a magazine and four rounds of bullets from them.

According to police and local sources, on Saturday (February 14) afternoon, two youths tried to rob a rickshaw puller of approximately 800 taka by threatening him with a weapon in the Bajbi Tatibari area of ​​the Gauchia-Araihazar road. At that time, when the rickshaw puller shouted, the people around quickly came forward and arrested them. Later, the agitated mob gang-raped the two. They were seriously injured. The injured are Rabbi (20) and Sabbir (15), sons of Jahangir of Rajakanda village of Hossainpur police station in Kishoreganj district. Eyewitnesses said that at one stage of the beating, the accused threw the pistol they were carrying into a nearby pond. On receiving the information, Bangladesh police reached the spot and brought the situation under control, rescued the injured and admitted them to the Upazila Health Complex.

They were given first aid. Later, based on the information given by the detainees, a raid was conducted at their rented house and four rounds of bullets and a magazine were recovered. In addition, the weapon was recovered around 9 am on Sunday (February 15) by spraying water with the help of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense members to recover the pistol thrown into the pond. The recovered pistol will be sent to the concerned department for examination, the police said.

Preparations are underway to file a case against the two arrested in this incident on charges of weapons and attempted robbery. Additional police have been deployed in the area after the incident. Locals said that there was panic among the locals due to several incidents of robbery on that road recently.

The law enforcement agencies have urged the public not to take the law into their own hands, saying that they will strengthen regular patrols and surveillance to curb crime.