Key suspect in Dhaka lynching, Hridoy, arrested in Narayanganj

Police have arrested ‘Hridoy’, the main suspect in the lynching of a woman in Dhaka’s Badda amid rumours of child abduction.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 23 July 2019, 05:01 PM
Updated : 23 July 2019, 05:50 PM

The law enforcers arrested Hridoy in Narayanganj, Abdul Baten, an additional commissioner at Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch, told bdnews24.com on Tuesday night.

Hridoy worked as a vegetable seller near the North Badda Government Primary School, where the woman was beaten to death by a mob on Saturday, locals said.

The woman, Taslima Begum Renu, a 42-year-old mother of two, went to the school to inquire about admission.

Guardians took her to the headmaster’s room for questioning on suspicion that she was an abductor.

Angry locals, who gathered outside on hearing that “a child abductor has been caught”, later snatched her away and lynched her. Police responded immediately but the woman died before they arrived.

Police started grilling three other suspects - Bachhu Mia, 28, ‘Bappy’, 21, and ‘Shaheen’, 31- in custody on Monday.

Police have also arrested two other residents of the area – Abul Kalam Azad, 50, and Kamal Hossain, 40.

Renu is among at least six people killed recently after a rumour that “child abductors are on the prowl to collect heads and blood for construction of Padma Bridge” spread on social media, especially Facebook.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the media earlier on Tuesday that the law enforcers arrested 81 people over dozens of mob-beating incidents across Bangladesh.