Police have arrested former Chhatra Dal leader Mohammad Imran over an alleged assault on a BNP official in Dumki upazila of Patuakhali district. The victim, Md Khalilur Rahman Zomaddar, general secretary of the BNP’s Srirampur Union unit, was reportedly beaten at Talatali Bazar on 31 October.
Dumki Police Station confirmed Imran’s arrest on the night of 1 November. He was named as the second accused in a case filed over the incident. Police said arrangements were being made to produce him before a court, while efforts were continuing to arrest the other suspects.
According to local sources, the incident took place on the morning of 31 October, when Zomaddar was at Talatali Bazar in Srirampur Union. He was allegedly approached and attacked by a group of four to five people, including Rakib and Imran, who were identified as Chhatra Dal leaders.
Several eyewitnesses and local traders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Zomaddar was talking on his mobile phone when the group suddenly attacked him. They allegedly beat him, leaving him injured. When traders and other people nearby came forward, the attackers reportedly fled the scene on motorcycles.
Local residents subsequently rescued Zomaddar and took him to Dumki Upazila Health Complex for treatment. He remains admitted to the hospital, according to the information provided by local sources. No further details about the nature or severity of his injuries were available.
On the day of the incident, Zomaddar filed a case with Dumki Police Station. Six individuals were named in the complaint, while another seven to eight unidentified people were also accused. Imran was arrested the following night as part of the investigation.
The victim’s account and the case statement indicate that tensions had existed between Zomaddar and several Chhatra Dal leaders before the alleged assault. However, the precise cause of the dispute and the circumstances that led to the confrontation have not been independently established.
Rakib, the first accused in the case, has denied the allegation of an organised attack and offered a different account of what happened. He claimed that several Chhatra Dal members had gone to install a pipeline connected to a sand dredging operation when Zomaddar allegedly obstructed the work and demanded money.
According to Rakib, the disagreement led to a heated exchange between the two sides. The argument subsequently turned into pushing and shoving, during which Zomaddar fell onto the road and sustained injuries. Rakib maintained that nobody had assaulted the BNP leader and denied that a deliberate attack had taken place.
The two conflicting accounts have raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the incident. While the complaint describes the episode as a physical assault involving several individuals, Rakib has attributed the injuries to an altercation over the installation of a dredging pipeline.
Dumki Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Selim Uddin confirmed that Imran, the second accused named in the case, had been arrested. He said police were preparing to send him to court and were working to bring the remaining accused under the law.
The investigation will need to establish how the confrontation began, whether the alleged assault took place as described in the complaint and what role each accused may have played. The allegations against the individuals named in the case have yet to be established through the judicial process.
