A young man was beaten to death on late Wednesday night two days after being taken away on suspicion of motorcycle theft in Mithapukur upazila of Rangpur.
The victim collapsed and died shortly after being returned to his family.
Police recovered the body Thursday afternoon and sent it to Rangpur Medical College Hospital for postmortem.
The victim, Sohel Mia, 27, was the youngest son of Azadul Haq aka Kyata Mia of Purbo Borolba village in Borobala union.
According to his family, on Monday, local village police member Monarul Islam called Sohel from his home and took him to Balua Bazar.
There, several youths beat him and forced him onto a motorcycle, taking him to the house of Ashraful Member of Milonpur village.
Ashraful held Sohel for two days, suspecting him in a motorcycle theft case involving Ashraful’s niece’s husband, and beat him severely.
On Wednesday night around 11pm, Sohel’s parents were called and forced to take him home with a signature in a blank paper as his condition became critical.
Soon after, Sohel collapsed and died.
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Sohel’s father, Kyata Mia, said, “Ashraful tortured my son inhumanely. Village police and a local youth, Habibur, demanded money in exchange for his safety. If my son did anything wrong, there is the law. I want justice. He left behind two young children aged 1 and 3.”
Ashraful, the accused, said, “I only asked for Sohel to be taken in connection with the stolen motorcycle. I do not know how he died. He should not have died under light punishment, and we have a written statement from his family.”
Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui, Officer-in-Charge of Mithapukur Police Station said, “We are preparing to file a case. Efforts to arrest the accused are ongoing.”