AL leader succumbs to injury

A local AL leader in the capital succumbed to his injuries yesterday after allegedly being beaten by a group of BNP activists following a long continuing feud between the political party leaders to gain the upper hand in extorting people.
The victim, Mohammad Sohel Rana, 30, was the publicity secretary of Segunbagicha Unit Awami League.
Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh Police Station Rezaul Karim said police arrested two in this connection after a murder case was filed.
Sohel's relatives said as he stopped the BNP leaders' toll collection from the footpath hotels and tea stalls in Segunbagicha, they beat him dead.
The locals, however, said Sohel's death was the result of a long dispute between the leaders of the political parties over realising extortion in the area.
Demanding arrest of the criminals, the locals brought out a procession with the dead body.
Earlier, a youth on Tuesday night took Sohel near the Bijoy Nagar water tank to join a party, said Sohel's younger brother Mohammad Jewel Hossain.
"Around 20 to 25 BNP men beat him there with sticks and iron rods," he said.
His relatives recovered him unconscious and rushed to a local hospital but he died at the intensive care unit yesterday.