A tragic road accident in Natore’s Lalpur upazila claimed the life of an autorickshaw driver on Monday afternoon. The fatal collision occurred at approximately 12:00 pm along the Bagha-Lalpur highway within the Berilabari mouza of Durdaria union, amidst wet weather conditions.
The victim has been identified as thirty-five-year-old Md Shahjahan, son of Md Sajdar from the Gourangapur area of Rajshahi’s Bagha upazila.
According to local accounts and police reports, steady rain was falling at the time of the incident. Shahjahan had pulled his battery-run autorickshaw to the side of the highway to manage passenger transport. While standing on the right-hand side of his vehicle to adjust protective weather curtains, a speeding shallow-engine-powered local transport vehicle—commonly known locally as a steering car—approached from the Lalpur direction heading towards Bagha.
Operating at an unsafe speed given the slick road conditions, the steering vehicle slammed directly into the driver. Shahjahan was violently thrown onto the tarmac. He sustained a severe, fatal laceration to his forehead inflicted by an iron rod protruding from the steering vehicle’s structure. He succumbed to his injuries instantly at the scene.
The sudden impact and subsequent tragedy sparked immediate panic. Distressed cries from the passengers inside the stationary autorickshaw alerted nearby residents, who rushed to the highway. Enraged by the reckless driving, locals apprehended the twenty-four-year-old steering vehicle driver, Md Sabuj, and subjected him to physical beatings, leaving him injured.
Emergency alerts brought Sub-Inspector Monir Hossain and a contingent of police officers from Lalpur Police Station to the scene promptly. Officers intervened to secure the wounded driver under police protection, managed the crowd, and completed the initial inquest report on the victim’s body.
While the autorickshaw was recovered and later taken away by grieving members of the victim’s family, the offending steering vehicle was seized and impounded by law enforcement.
Officer-in-Charge Shafikul Islam of Lalpur Police Station confirmed the sequence of events, attributing the fatality to reckless and excessive speeds in adverse weather. The accused driver remains in police custody, and formal legal proceedings are currently underway to address the incident.
