UP chairman dies while fleeing mob in Chandpur

A Union Parishad (UP) chairman and upazila unit Awami League (AL) leader of Chandpur's Shahrasti upazila has died by drowning in a pond, in which he jumped after a mob of local Anti-AL group was looking for him to attack him.

The body of the Suchipara Uttar UP Chairman Mostofa Kamal Majumdar, 65, who is a resident of Patwary Bari in Shahrasti's Shorshak village was found floating on Tuesday morning. He was the ex-president of the upazila unit AL. He had been remaining missing following an attack at his house on Monday night.

"Mostafa Kamal's home was vandalised by the local anti-AL people last night and at one stage, the angry mob was looking for him to beat him up," Upazila Chairman, Engineer Makbul Hossain Patwary said.

"Sensing the attack, Mostafa kamal managed to escape from the wrath of the mob. While fleeing he jumped in the dark into a pond near his home and drowned," Makbul added.

A close relative of Mostofa said he had been remaining missing since the attack at his home and they found his body floating in the pond in the morning.

The relative believes that policemen in his area are terrified of the local Anti-AL group.

"We are very terrified about people's resentment and the wrath upon policemen , therefore, we remained confined to the Thana (police station) area, and did not dare to rescue his body," Shahrasti Police Station Officer-in-Charge Alamgir Hossain told the Financial Express.

A number of police officers said policemen in all the other seven police station in the upazila are also afraid of doing their duties due to "the possible attack by angry people for their long time resentment and anger against policemen."

He said that people are angry at the policemen over various types of harassment and criminal cases against a number of them during the AL rule for the past 14 years since 2009.

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