25-yr-old dies in police custody, locals block highway in Lalmonirhat

A 25-year-old RMG worker in Lalmonirhat allegedly died in police custody on Thursday night.

Agitated locals blocked the Lalmonirhat-Rangpur Highway halting traffic on the busy high-speed corridor for a few hours in the early hours of Friday after the family of the deceased accused the police of torture.

The deceased was identified as Robiul Islam Khan, son of Dulal Khan of Kazir Chowra village in Sadar upazila.

Robiul and another man were arrested by the police on charges of gambling at a fair in the Mahendranagar Bangla Bazar area on the occasion of Pahela Baishakh, according to his family members.

Robiul had an altercation with some cops while being dragged into a police van as he insisted that he was innocent, they claimed.

"He was badly beaten up by the cops for refusing to enter the police van. He had sustained injuries, which eventually led to his death," said a family member of the deceased.

Additional superintendent of Lalmonirhat Police Rabiul Islam denied the allegation of custodial torture.

"The two people were arrested by a police team from the fair on a tip-off. But Robiul fell sick on the way to the local police station and he was soon rushed to Sadar Hospital. He died while being shifted to Rangpur Medical College and Hospital," he said.

As the news of the death spread, the agitated locals blocked the Lalmonirhat-Rangpur highway in the early hours of Friday and demanded the punishment of a sub-Inspector of Sadar police station.

The locals also vandalised a police van when some cops reached the spot to pacify the crowd, officials said. The mob dispersed only after the cops assured them of a proper probe into the death.

When contacted, Shah Alam, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said, "We are waiting for the autopsy report of the deceased."