Mob beats up 5 NGO workers in Rajshahi in suspicion

Mob beats up five people in Rajshahi over suspicion that they are child kidnappers. The incident occurred on Monday in the Rawtha area in Charghat. 

Police later detained the beaten-up, who claimed themselves to be employees at the Ad-Din Welfare Centre, eventually taking them into custody. Nazrul Islam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Charghat Police Station, has confirmed the truthfulness of the incident.

It has been learnt that five people were recruiting members for their association at 1pm on Monday in Rawtha of Charghat Sadar Union, when the locals gone suspicious of them, as they seemed to be unfamiliar, and started asking questions. Their replies resulted in the locals suspecting them of being child-abductors; consequently, the locals beaten up the five strangers before handing them over to the police. 

Among the arrested: Hafizur Rahman; Abul Hossain; and Rezaul Karim are from Gopalganj, while Qayyum Ali and Abul Kalam are from Lalbagh, Dhaka. 

According to OC Nazrul Islam, the accused five claimed that they were working in Charghat on Monday as field-workers of an NGO named Ad-Din Welfare Centre. They also claimed that they were about to get into an agreement with a local individual named Majid for renting his house, located in the area. 

Police are trying to gather information regarding the detained. Provided any complaint is filed against them by any of the locals, necessary actions will be taken after verifying the truthfulness of the complaint, Nazrul Islam said. 

Md Nazmul Haque, UNO of Charghat, said: the rule for workers of any NGO for engaging in activities in a sub-district for the first time is to collect approval letter by submitting their identity cards along with other relevant documents; however, Ad-Din Welfare Centre has not followed this procedure before sending their workers in the area; thus the five accused, identifying themselves as its workers, were working completely against the law.