Rickshaw-puller beaten dead at arbitration meeting

A rickshaw-puller was allegedly beaten to death when he tried to leave a local arbitration meeting in the capital’s Bhasantek area on Tuesday night. 

The deceased was Tajul Islam, 40, of Kishoreganj. He used to reside in Bhasantek Lala Sarai slum.

Immediatly after the killing, police arrested six suspects, said Sabbir Ahmed, officer-in-charge of Bhasantek Police Station. 

The detainees are Al Amin, 30, Abul Hashem, 27, Md Zia, 26, Motiur Rahman alias Matin, 60, Idrish Ali Shaikh, 68, and Selu Bhuyan, 50.

According to police and victim family, two months ago, Tajul and Al Amin jointly bought a rickshaw, which Tajul used to pull. Since then, there had been a rift between the two over the share of the income, victim's brother-in-law Abul Bashar told The Daily Star.

On Tuesday evening, a local arbitration meeting was called to mitigate the dispute but Tajul tried to leave in the middle of discussion. At that time, four to five men started beating Tajul with iron rods, said Bashar.

Critically injured Tajul was taken to a local hospital but later referred to National Institute for Cardio Vascular Disease where he was pronounced dead, said OC Sabbir.

Later, police took the body to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy, he said.

A murder case was filed with Bhasantek Police Station.