Ruling Awami League鈥檚 student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League鈥檚 central executive committee former vice president Mehedi Hasan and his associate Shohidul Islam were mob beaten allegedly by the traders of Palashi Bazar in Dhaka Sunday night.
Traders and witnesses said that the two BCL men were handed over to police after mob justice, as the two ruling party鈥檚 student wing leaders allegedly used to collect extortion money from the traders regularly.
As the traders refused to give money on Sunday, Mehedi attacked them with sharp weapons at about 11:00pm, they said, adding that traders then resisted them and gave them good beating before handing them over to police.
鈥榃hen they came to take money in extortion, we refused to pay today. He [Mehedi] punched me and sometimes later came back with machetes. Seeing this, I fled the scene,鈥� Nazrul Islam, a trader at the market, said.
He alleged that the BCL leaders used to come to the market every day to collect toll.
Palashi Dokan Malik Samity former general secretary Mahbubul Haque said, 鈥榃hen trader Nazrul Islam fled the scene, the attackers came to hack me by wielding the machete. Traders then recued me, caught the duo, and gave them good beating.鈥�
He said that they were later taken by the police.
Mehedi was also a former president of Salimullah Muslim Hall unit of BCL.
Asked about the matter,聽 Dhaka University proctor Maksudur Rahman said that he heard the news of detaining a former student of the university by the traders at Palashi Bazar over toll collection.
'As he is not a current student of the university, University authorities have no responsibility in this matter,' he said and added that the university authorities could not take any action against him.
The DU proctor also said that he knew that the former student was handed over to police.
Salimullah Muslim Hall provost Iqbal Mamun said that Mehedi was staying at the hall illegally.
'Whenever we identified him, we asked him to go out... Now, the university or hall authorities will not take any responsibility for a former student,' he added.
Chawkbazar police station duty officer assistant sub-inspector Md Abdur Rashid Mia said that two BCL men were taken to a hospital for treatment.
He, however, did not mention the name of the hospital where the BCL leaders were admitted.
Chawkbazar police station officer-in-charge could not be reached over the phone for comments, despite several attempts.
