A rickshaw puller allegedly went on a killing spree, hacking three neighbours dead and injuring six others, before he was caught and beaten to death by villagers yesterday morning in Cumilla’s Debidwer.

Mokhlesur, a resident of Radhanagar area, killed his neighbours Anwara Begum, 40, her son Hanif, 11, and Nazma Begum, 38, police said.

Locals said Mukhlesur was mentally ill, but his wife refuted the allegation, our Cumilla correspondent reports.

Nazma’s daughter Jannat Akter said Mukhlesur hacked her mother in the head and throat and injured her father Nurul Islam and grandmother Mazeda Begum.

The 16-year-old added that there was no enmity between Mukhlesur and her parents and alleged that Mukhlesur took sleeping pills regularly.

Anwara’s daughter Nipa Akter, 15, said Mukhlesur first attacked her mother and brother Abu Hanif when they were in a paddy field.

She was nearby and Mukhlesur tried to attack her as well, but she managed to run away.

Mukhlesur was killed by a mob soon afterwards, said local UP member Mustafizur Rahman.

Jahirul Anwar, officer-in-charge of Debidwer police station, said Mukhlersur’s wife Rabeya Begum has been detained for interrogation.

Rabeya Begum told reporters, “We have three daughters and a son. My husband was not mentally ill or a drug addict.”

MOBS KILL TWO IN ASHUGANJ

Two people were beaten to death by mobs in separate incidents in Brahmanbaria’s Ashuganj in the last two days.

Locals in Lalpur area had beaten Amzad Hossain, 20, of Kishoreganj’s Bhairab, to death on Tuesday night on suspicion of stealing cattle.

OC of Ashuganj Police Station Mohammad Masud Alam said Amzad and several others allegedly broke into a villager’s house and tried to steal a cow.

But locals caught him and beat him dead, he added.

In another incident yesterday afternoon, a mob killed a man in Chor-Chartola area on suspicion of being a child abductor.

Police said, the unidentified man, aged about 30, had been loitering near a railway station for the last few days.

Locals had beat him up simply on suspicion, leaving him critically injured.

The OC said, “We rescued the man. He died on the way to a hospital. The man seemed mentally challenged.”