Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways remained suspended for an hour on Wednesday morning as locals blocked the roads, protesting the death of a trader – allegedly under police custody.
However, police said the trader died in a road crash.
Locals said a team of police from Bason Police Station arrested four people from Bhogra Bypass area on Saturday night on charge of gambling. Later, police released three of them, except Rabiul Islam, 40, a resident of Peyara Bagan in Gazipur city.
On Tuesday night, police went to Rabiul’s house and took his wife's signature on a white paper, locals said. Soon after that, Rabiul’s wife came to know that the trader died that night.
Enraged by Rabiul’s death, locals equipped with sticks put up barricades on Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways around 9:30am on Wednesday, disrupting traffic movement. They also set two motorbikes on fire.
On information, police rushed to the spot, lobbed tear gas shells, and used rubber bullets to disperse them. Vehicular movement on both the highways returned to normal at round 10:30 pm after police intervention.
Abu Torab, deputy commissioner of Gazipur Metropolitan Police, Shamsur Rahman, said Rabiul died in a road crash while returning home from police lockup.
“The allegation brought by the local people will be investigated,” he said.
