A 55-year-old caretaker of a water pump was stabbed dead allegedly by miscreants in Lakhai upazila of the district early Friday. Lal Miah was a resident of Jhirunda village under the upazila. Locals and police said the victim used to work as a guard of a water pump operated to water cropland in Bawa Haor. Like other days, Lal Miah along with his eight-year-old grandson Tofazzel went to the pump on Thursday night to guard it and later fell asleep at a makeshift house. A group of masked miscreants numbering five to six entered the house at the dead of night and stabbed him with sharp weapons keeping the grandson hostage, Lakhai Police Station Inspector (investigation) Chamapak Dam said quoting Tofazzel. The grandson informed his relatives coming to the house, one kilometer off the pump, when the criminals left the spot, he said. Read more: Man stabbed dead in Chattagram The family members rushed to the spot and took him to Habiganj Sadar Hospital where physicians declared him dead, the inspector said. Md Khalilur Rahman, additional superintendent of police in the district, said he has already visited the spot while drives are on to nab the criminals. He expressed reluctance to disclose anything for the sake of investigation.