Ansar man killed amid workers' rampage

An ansar member was allegedly killed by garment workers when they were vandalising factories in Gazipur over a rumour of a fellow worker's death yesterday noon.

The victim -- Bhairab Chandra Sarkar, 35, of Gaibandha -- was beaten by the workers, in Hatimara area under Kashimpur Police Station, claimed Gias Uddin Mollah, a platoon commander at Delta Spinning Mill.

Police later confirmed the death and said that a case would be filed after receiving the post-mortem report.

The incident began when workers of Mitali Fashion Limited gathered others from different factories and began rioting after hearing the rumour that one Mehdi, a worker, was beaten to death by the security staff on allegation of theft, said Inspector Md Selim Mia of Gazipur Industrial Police.

They also blockaded the Dhaka- Tangail Highway.

Later, the factory security staff admitted that they had beaten Mehdi up after he had confessed to stealing 20 T-shirts. However, they said he was not seriously injured.

Armed with stick and brick bats, the workers vandalised at least 10 factories in the area, starting from 9:00am.

At one point, five ansar members, including Bhairab, came under attack by the workers when they tried to break the gate of Delta Spinning Mill to bring out its workers to join them, Mollah said.

They fired around 10 blank shots to disperse the workers, he added.  

After the attack, Bhairab was sent to Enam Medical College Hospital in Savar, where he was declared dead.

Bhairab was dead by the time he was brought to hospital around 12:25pm, said Arnab Sarkar, the emergency medical officer at the hospital.

The situation was brought under control around 1pm after Mehdi was brought to the workers, said the Inspector Selim.