Sundarganj residents on general strike over MP Liton's murder

A dawn-to-dusk shutdown is being observed at Gaibandha's Sundarganj Upazila over the murder of the local lawmaker.

Unidentified gunmen stormed into the house of ruling party MP Manjurul Islam Liton on Saturday and shot him from close range -- fatally, as it turned out to be.

The 48-year-old MP died at the Rangpur Medical College Hospital about an hour and half later.

Hospital authorities handed over the body to relatives on Sunday after the autopsy.

It was then taken to the Rangpur Police Lines grounds for funeral prayer.

It will be flown to Dhaka, said Rangpur's Superintendent of Police Mizanur Rahman.

A second funeral prayer will be held at 10am on Monday at the Parliament's South Plaza, said a media statement by the Parliament Secretariat.

The body will be then taken back to Gaibandha and buried at the family graveyard in the afternoon. 

No case has been started over the murder until Sunday morning.

Police have detained 10 persons for their suspected involvement, but did not disclose their identities.

The family said that three men riding on a motorbike came to Liton's house on Saturday evening.

According to witnesses and police, he was shot twice on the left chest and once on the left hand.

Gaibandha MP Manjurul Islam Liton comes out of the High Court after it rejected his bail petitions and asked him to appear before a trial court for allegedly shooting a child . Picture : Tanvir Ahamed

An aide to the MP, ‘Jewel’ said there were five men and three of them opened fire on Liton indiscriminately.

The Awami League has blamed the Jamaat-e-Islami. No reaction from Jamaat was available immediately.

Liton is the second incumbent MP killed by gunmen after the 2005 murder of Awami League's Shah AMS Kibria in Habiganj.

A diploma engineer (marine) by training, Liton was a director of Ananda Group of Industries. It was his first tenure as a lawmaker.

He hit the headlines in 2015 after allegedly shooting a 9-year-old schoolboy in his constituency. He was arrested and later freed on bail.