Angry locals have allegedly picked up a Palli Bidyut employee and assaulted him after confining him to a house in Faridganj upazila of Chandpur, protesting prolonged power outages and increased electricity bills.

The incident took place at Uttar Dhanua village on Tuesday. The employee was later rescued following negotiations with local residents.

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A written complaint was filed with Faridganj Police Station on Tuesday night. Deputy General Manager of Chandpur Palli Bidyut Samity-2 Md Saiful Alam filed the complaint naming four individuals as accused.

According to the complaint and local sources, linemen Md Ibrahim and Md Abdul Kader were on duty at the Chirka substation under the Faridganj Zonal Office of Chandpur Palli Bidyut Samity-2 on Tuesday morning.

Around 10:30am, a group of youths entered the substation and engaged in an altercation. They later forcibly took Abdul Kader to Uttar Dhanua village and held him captive there. They later physically assaulted him there.

Assistant General Manager (O&M) of the Palli Bidyut Samity Mohammad Nazir Ullah later rushed in and held a meeting with the assistance of local dignitaries and rescued Abdul Kader.

The written complaint alleged that the attackers beat Abdul Kader and snatched Tk 23,500 from him, while also damaging his mobile phone.

Inspector (Investigation) Al Amin of the police station said they were investigating the matter and legal action will be taken against those found involved.

Meanwhile, local residents alleged that Faridganj has been experiencing severe load shedding for a long time and that electricity bills have risen abnormally.

They claimed that attempts to seek solutions from Palli Bidyut officials often result in non-cooperation and rude behaviour.