A 40-year-old businessman reportedly died in police custody in Bramanbaria on Thursday, his family alleged.
The deceased is Najir Ahmed, son of Md Obaidullah of Sarail sadar upazila.
The victim’s family members alleged that Najir died due to police torture.
However, the police denied the allegation and instead claimed that he had died of a heart attack.
Police said that Najir and his family members beat up a suspected thief on Thursday evening, leaving the latter injured. On information, police rushed to the spot and detained Najir along with the suspected thief.
However, the deceased’s elder brother and organising secretary of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal Hossain Ahmed Tafsir claimed that his younger brother had bought a house in the area. Since then, a group of locals had been trying to raise a feud with him.
According to Tafsir, on Thursday evening, Jumman Mia, son of Helal Mia and member of the opponent group in the same area, broke into Najir’s room. Soon after the incident, sub-inspector of Sarail police station Saiful Islam with his team came to the house and took both Najir and Jumman to the police station.
After he went to the police station, Tafsir learned that his brother was taken to the hospital with injuries and died there.
Tafsir also claimed that the roles of local representative Moshahed Ullah and Sarail police over the incident were mysterious.
Sarail police officer-in-charge Aslam Hossain said that the allegations against the police were completely false.
He added that Najir fell sick at the police station and later was taken to the Sarail Upazila Health Complex where on-duty doctors declared him dead on arrival.
‘The body was sent to Brahmanbaria General Hospital morgue for autopsy,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Zafar Ahmed, another brother of the deceased, filed a murder case with Sarail police station accusing 13 people on Friday.
