Four separate cases were filed yesterday over a deadly clash between the supporters of an Awami League-backed Union Parishad (UP) chairman and a former chairman of the same body that killed four people and injured 40 others at Nilokkhya union under Raipura upazila of Narsingdi on Monday. Police have filed the cases with Raipura Police Station against 1,500 people of whom 103 have been named.
So far, the police have detained 25 people for interrogation and said the detainees could be released after quizzing. The locals claimed that male members of Amirabad, Sonakandi and two other adjoining villages under Raipura upazila have fled their homes fearing arrests and police harassment. Meanwhile, the local administration has formed a three-member body to probe the Monday’s clash. Additional Deputy Inspector General of Police Abul Kalam Siddique  will head the body having two other members-- Additional Deputy Commissioner of Narsingdi Mahbub Hasan and Additional police super Hasibul Alam. In another development, autopsies on the four killed-- Manik 40, Mamun 42, Khokan 38, and Shahjahan 40-- were completed at Narsingdi Sadar Hospital, confirmed its Resident Medical Officer Amirul Haque Shamim. However, relatives were yet to claim the bodies, he said, adding that a medical board will divulge the autopsy reports later.
According to police and the locals, there had been a longstanding rivalry between Awami League-backed UP Chairman Tajul Islam and former chairman Abdul Haque Sarker, a former leader of the ruling party, over establishing supremacy in the union. Monday’s clash was the result of that heightened rivalry, they added.