Rab also arrested a taxicab driver who was injured during the incident.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Maksud, 25, son of Billal Hossain, hailing from Kamrangir Char and Abdul Jalil Sheikh, 22, son of late Moslem Sheikh, hailing from Jafrabad of Mohammadpur.

Mohammad Ali Sheikh, relative of both the victims, said Maksud, who runs a makeshift tea stall in Kamrangir Char left the house after altercation with his family and went to his relative Abdul Jalil Sheikh in Jafrabad.

Jalil along with Maksud went for Chawkbazar at around 9:30am to buy some raw materials for his newly opened candle factory, he added.

Family members said a rickshaw puller informed them at around 12:00noon that bullet-hit Jalil was lying on Iqbal road.

They identified the bodies at Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue at noon.

Mohammadpur police said a gang of four including the two dead, who were riding a yellow cab, snatched valuables from rickshaw passengers on Iqbal road when a patrol vehicle of Rab-2 reached the spot and chased the cab.

As both the parties exchanged fire, Maksud and Jalil received bullets, police said.

Police arrested the cab driver Akmal, 28, who is now detained at Mohammadpur Police Station.

Family members said the dead were not snatchers and there was no case against them with any police station.