Land dispute: Man killed by local club members

A 65-year-old man was killed allegedly by some members of a local club following a land related dispute at Kumarganj in South Dinajpur.

Police said the victim, Nepal Swarnakar was originally a resident of Amritapur area in South Dinajpur. Though later he started staying at Safanagar Village, he had a plot at Amritapur.

His family members alleged that some members of a local club had repeatedly approached him with a proposal to hand over the plot to them. But Swarnakar was not ready.

A few days ago, the members of club had started threatening him with dire consequences as he was not ready to hand over the plot to them. On Saturday night, four persons came on two motorbikes and took Swarnakar along with them.

His family members had initiated a search as he didn’t return till late night. But they couldn’t find him. On Sunday morning, some local residents found Swarnakar’s body hanging from a tree beside the house of the victim’s nephew Raju Swarnakar. The local people informed the police. Policemen sent the body for an autopsy.

The incident led to trouble as local people started beating up Raju considering that he had killed the victim to grab the plot. Police rescued Raju and took him to police station after first aid in a hospital.

Raju told the police that Swarnakar’s body was purposely hanged from the tree situated just beside his house so that everyone doubts would be on him. He claimed that a section of members of the club killed and hanged Swarnakar from the tree.

A police officer said Raju claimed that some members of the club used to consume alcohol beside his house and he had protested against it. Thus they have framed him.

Police said that they would question some members of the club in this connection. Though the victim’s family members had brought the allegations against the club members, they were yet to lodge a police complaint.