Pabna 3-murder was 'planned'

Family members of the three people, who were beaten to death by a mob in Pabna's Santhia upazila on Tuesday, claimed that they were “killed” over business-related enmity.

Refuting the allegation of kidnapping of children against the deceased, they said the trio went there solely for business purposes.

On Tuesday, a mob beat Alauddin Hossain, Abu Bakar and Aslam Hossain to death on suspicion of kidnapping children in C&B Chotur Bazar area.

Their families said the three were brothers-in-law.

Alauddin, 52, of Natore, was a cattle trader. He was a former UP member and also a BNP activist, according to his family.

Abu Bakar, 48, hailed from Bogra, and Aslam Hossain, 50, from Dinajpur. Bakar and Aslam were shopkeepers and also traders of seasonal crops, their families claimed.

Masiran Nesa, wife of Abu Bakar, said, “My husband was a restaurateur and used to do business of seasonal crops. He along with his relatives went to Bera just to buy onions ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.”

Terming the incident of beating a “planned murder”, Aslam's son Siraj Hossain said, “My father and two others went there with around Tk 2 lakh to buy goods from C&B Bazar. They were beaten to death on suspicion of kidnapping. But no one could clearly tell who was abducted. Besides, the money they were carrying is gone.”

Santhia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Shahed Mahamud told The Daily Star that Alauddin's brother Rana filed a case accusing 2,000 to 3,000 unidentified people.

“After primary investigation, we are certain that the victims were not kidnappers. They went there for business purposes,” he added.

Siddikur Rahman, additional superintendent of police in Pabna, said they were checking the mobile call lists of the victims.