Rangamati ex-UP member shot dead

A former Union Parishad (UP) member has been shot dead at Rangamati's Naniyarchar Upazila early on Sunday.

The United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), which opposes the 1997 hill tract peace treaty, blamed the Santu Larma faction of PCJSS for murdering Shanti Kumar Chakma, 62 and said he was their activist.

Naniyarchar Police Station's sub-inspector Md Abdul Awal said that they have been informed about Chakma's murder at Ghilachhari Union's Ramhari Parha.

"Police is yet to reach the spot of the crime as it is far away from the police station. But they have started for the spot of the crime. "

Ghilachhari UP Chairman Amar Jibon Chakma said a few men called Shanti Chakma from his home past midnight Sunday before killing him.

Relatives and locals recovered his body later.

PCJSS's assistant publicity secretary Sajib Chakma said the UPDF killed him as Shanti Chakma supported the PCJSS.

But the UPDF denied the charge as baseless.

"PCJSS activists had earlier killed innocent people at Ramhari Parha. Now they are blaming us for the murder for political mileage," said Babul Chakma, Rangamati unit president of Paharhi Chhatra Parishad (PCP).

PCP is an affiliate of the UPDF.