A 15-year-old schoolboy was beaten to death over an allegation of theft in the Cheingar Bridge area under Fatikchhari upazila in Chattogram on Friday.
The deceased, Rihan Uddin Mahin, 15, of Sagar Ali Talukder Bari near the Cheingar Bridge area, was a student of Kanchannagar Multipurpose High School.
Mahin鈥檚 two friends from the same area were also injured in the incident. They are now undergoing treatment at a hospital.
Fatikchhari police station officer-in-charge Nur Ahmed said that the incident took place at about 5:00am near the Cheingar Bridge area.
鈥楳ahin and his two friends returned to the village from Cox鈥檚 Bazar at about 3:30am on Friday. Before heading home, they were sitting and talking on the Cheingar Bridge,鈥� OC Nur Ahmed said.
At that time, a group of youths began chasing them, calling them thieves, he said, adding that Mahin and his friends tried to escape and took shelter in a nearby under-construction building.
The group then dragged Mahin and his friends out of there and beat them mercilessly, leaving Mahin dead on the spot and two others injured, he said.
鈥榃e have not found any information suggesting that the three boys were involved in theft or any other crime. They were falsely branded as thieves and assaulted,鈥� OC Nur Ahmed said.
He also said that the attackers were from the village of the victims.
鈥楾he deceased鈥檚 mother filed a case with the police station. We are investigating whether there was any prior enmity behind the incident. Two people have been detained in connection with the incident,鈥� he said.
On August 9, cobbler Ruplal Das, 40, and his niece鈥檚 husband and a rickshaw-van puller, Pradeep Das, 35, were killed in a mob attack in Rangpur over theft allegations.
According to rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra data, at least 207 individuals were lynched in the one year between August 1, 2024 and August 10 this year.
Of the 207 lynching victims, 111 were killed in mob violence between January 1 and August 10 this year.