Man hacked to death in Ashura Tazia procession

The Lalbagh Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested four people on charges of involvement in chasing down and hacking a young man to death after a tajia procession organized on the occasion of holy Ashura in Sutrapur in the capital.

Police said the arrests were made through operations conducted to uncover the mystery of this sensational killing and identify those involved.

This information was given in a notice signed by Niaz Mehedi, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police of DMP’s Media and Public Relations Division, on Saturday.

The killing took place earlier, after 5 PM on Friday, June 26, under a building under construction on B.K. Das Road in the Sutrapur area of Old Dhaka.

Police said the deceased young man had taken part in the holy Ashura tajia procession. After the procession ended, several people chased him and took him outside the procession.

He was then indiscriminately hacked with a sharp weapon under a building under construction, leaving him critically injured.

Sutrapur Police Station’s officer-in-charge (OC) Motiur Rahman, confirming the incident, said the young man had been with the tajia procession.

Several people chased him and took him outside the procession. He was then indiscriminately hacked and injured under a building under construction. He died on the way to the hospital after being rescued from the scene.

He further said police immediately collected CCTV footage from the scene and began work to identify the victim and the attackers. After reviewing information obtained from various sources, it was learned that the victim’s name was Md. Zakir Hossain (31). He worked as a cleanliness worker for Ward No. 26 of Dhaka South City Corporation.

In this incident, the victim’s elder brother filed a murder case as plaintiff against 14/15 unidentified accused at Sutrapur Police Station.

Later, after reviewing the CCTV footage, police quickly identified the perpetrators, and multiple operation teams from Sutrapur Police Station conducted raids at various locations in Dhaka metropolis on the night of June 26, arresting four people directly involved in the incident.

Those arrested are Md. Rashed (20), and three others whose names have not been disclosed as they are juveniles. At that time, a switchgear knife, a machete (chapati), and the clothes they were wearing at the time of the incident were recovered from their custody.

In the initial interrogation, it was learned that the incident originally started over an argument and scuffle between the victim and the attackers regarding holding the rope of a “duli” (a ceremonial structure) in the tajia procession.

At one point, when the attackers chased the victim, he took shelter under the Ispahani Building on P.K. Roy Road to protect himself, and it was there that he was attacked.

Others involved in the incident have already been identified, and police operations to arrest them are ongoing.