Two fish farmers murdered

Unidentified criminals killed two fish farmers early yesterday allegedly due to previous enmity over taking lease of a local waterbody in Meherpur Sadar upazila. 

Being informed, police recovered the throat-slit bodies of Rokonuzzaman, 36, son of late Idrish Ali, and Hasan Ali, 42, son of Azad Ali, of Darbeshpur village in the upazila from the bank of Shailmari Beel yesterday morning and sent those to Meherpur General Hospital for autopsy.

Lessees Rokonuzzaman and Hasan, who took lease of Shailmari Beel from the government about four years ago, used to guard the waterbody along with some labourers at night, locals said.

Unidentified criminals killed the duo around 1:30am by slitting their throats while they were sleeping inside a thatched hut on the bank of the waterbody, Officer in Charge (OC) of Sadar Police Station Shah Dara Khan said.

Sensing something wrong, two labourers entered the room and found the throat-slit bodies of the two, the OC added.

Meherpur  Superintendent of Police (SP) SM Murad Ali visited the spot and said the slain duo had previous enmity with another group over taking lease of the waterbody.

Azad Ali, father of slain Hasan Ali, said a group of ruling party men of the same area had been threatening his son for dire consequences.

They were investigating the reason behind the murders, the OC said.