Man killed in RAB gunfire for protesting neighbour's arrest

Pistol and bullets

Narayanganj, Mar 18 - A 65-year-old man was killed and another was injured allegedly as they tried to protest the arrest of their neighbour by members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in plainclothes, in Narayanganj's Sonargaon upazila's Bargao Chairman Para area early Friday.

The relatives of the deceased Abul Kashem, son of late Kadam Ali, said that he was shot dead by the elite force on Friday night. The other person to get shot but survive was Humayun Kabir, 43.

A RAB team conducted a drive in that area to arrest the main accused, Selim, of a murder case, said Lt colonel Tanvir Mahmud Pasha of RAB - 11.

"Some men attacked us with local arms and tried to snatch away the arrestee, which prompted a ‘fight'," he said.

“We are not sure how he died,” Pasha said. He added that four RAB members were injured in the fight, but didn't name them.

Wife of the deceased, Ramija Begum, said her husband saw their neighbour Selim being taken away by men in plainclothes and asked them (RAB) why, at which they hit him. As more people in the neighbourhood came out at the commotion, RAB resorted to gunfire.

At one point, her husband was shot dead. Another person was shot in the incident, she said.

Md. Ahsanullah of Sonargaon police station said the body is kept in the morgue for autopsy. - UNB