The death of 30-year-old Sumon Ahmed Majumder, vice-president of Jubo League's ward No. 10 unit, came 10 hours after arrest spiking the death count in the wake of Rab interrogation to four in the last 20 days.

Rab officials arrested Sumon two hours after the police raided his house at 1:30pm Thursday, his mother Solema Begum said, adding: "They (Rab members) tortured my son severely in custody that led to his death."

The police went to Sumon's Amtali house in the industrial town with a local BNP leader to search for firearms, Solema said. "The police said my son possessed firearms but left the place finding none."

But the police denied the raid on Sumon's house and the duty officer of Tongi Police Station said: "We did not raid his house."

Two hours into the raid, a team of 15 Rab officials went to Sumon's house when he was taking a shower, his brother Al Mamun said. "The Rab team knocked on his bathroom and asked him to go with them for interrogation about Ahsanullah murder as he came out."

The Rab officials also picked up Sumon's cousin Lokman, 22, and Akbar Hossain Pinku, 20, both AL's youth front activists, on their way out and took the three blindfolded to a camp by pickup van.

But Sub-Inspector (SI) Karim Hossain of Tongi Police Station said a Rab team led by SI Shahjahan arrested the three in a hotel in Tongi for demanding Tk 50,000 from businessman Tajul Islam Akand, who informed Rab about the alleged extortion.

Tajul, who lodged a case with Tongi police under the Speedy Trial Act, said in the first information report that Sumon demanded money from him on June 18 and beat his employee Dukhu the next day.

Tajul said he asked Dukhu to hand the money to Sumon in the hotel on Thursday afternoon in a plan of Rab officials to arrest him along with the others.

CRIES IN CUSTODY

"Rab officials kept us in separate rooms in the camp," Lokman told reporters at Tongi Police Station. "I heard Sumon crying in another room."

A relative called the Rab office and offered money to stop the torture of Sumon, his mother said, adding: "He (the relative) also heard him crying on the phone."

Interrogation in custody over, the Rab officials took Sumon and the other two to Tongi Police Station to file a case under the Speedy Trial Act accusing them of extortion.

"We asked the Rab officials to provide him with treatment in hospital as we found him sick," Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abu Sufiyan of Gazipur told reporters at his office.

"Sumon scuffled with Rab officials during arrest and was injured," said Superintendent of Police Atikul Islam of Gazipur, quoting a report signed by Rab.

"The Rab officials brought him back to the police station after giving him first aid and left the three there," he said.

"Sumon's condition deteriorated after the Rab officials left the police station and we sent him to Tongi Health Complex where he died at 1:30am," said the Tongi Police Station duty officer.

The attending doctor, Nazrul Islam of Tongi Health Complex, said Rab SI Shahjahan brought Sumon to the hospital and he felt better after he gave him some medicines. The police brought Sumon to the hospital in a critical condition again at 12:15am and he died after an hour.

Reporters saw the two other arrestees with hallmarks of torture in custody.

The inquest report, carried out in the health complex by Magistrate AKM Sohel yesterday, says Sumon bore marks of bruises on his body and his legs were bandaged. The police sent the body to Gazipur Sadar Hospital for an autopsy. The magistrate also recorded the statements of witnesses to the killing of Ahsanullah.

Sumon's cousin Nazma Begum alleged a local BNP leader and his two brothers threatened him to step out of the campaign for Jahid Ahsan Russell, AL candidate for Gazipur-2 by-polls and son of Ahsanullah. Sumon was tasked with printing Russell's election posters.

PROTEST AND VANDALISM

The death incensed leaders and activists of the AL and its front organisations to bring out a series of processions in Tongi all day. Angry demonstrators vandalised a truck and two buses, laid siege to Tongi Police Station and blocked Tongi-Kaliganj Road for an hour.

AL President Sheikh Hasina resented the death of Sumon and said it was part of a conspiracy to create a panicky situation to rig the Gazipur-2 by-polls.

Russell, AL candidate for Gazipur-2 by-election, alleged Rab 'killed' Sumon in its custody to terrorise the locality to unsettle the election atmosphere.

Municipal Chairman Azmat Ullah alleged it was part of a scheme to mar the trial of the killers of Ahsanullah, as Sumon was a key witness.

Assailants shot dead Ahsanullah at a roadside rally in Tongi on May 7. The criminal investigation department identified Jubo Dal leader Nurul Islam Sarker as the mastermind of Ahsanullah killing in the chargesheet, submitted on July 10, pressing charges against 29 others and naming Sumon as one of the 78 witnesses.

Rab arrested Debashish, an alleged associate of 'Pichchi' Hannan, in a clinic in Savar on the evening of June 26 and sent him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with leg injuries at midnight where the attending doctors declared him dead.

Shopkeeper Shajahan Ali of Mohammadpur died on July 9 in the DMCH a couple of days after he was handed over to Rab officials in Dhanmondi.

Minar Hossain in Charkuthipara in Kushtia died at Kushtia General Hospital a few hours after Rab arrested him with arms on July 10.