Several landless families are passing days amid misery as miscreants burnt their 25 houses at Dakkhin Badhal village in Khantakota union under Sharankhola upazila of the district on Saturday.

Rafiqul Islam, a landless labourer living there, said one Farid Khan on Thursday filed a false case of extortion and possession of land against the landless people and a few owners of the vested property with Sharankhola Police Station.

“Police came to arrest the accused Friday afternoon and we the male members of the colony fled,” he said.

“Around 5:00am on Saturday, 25 to 30 armed men vandalised and burnt our houses and injured three women. Women and children of our families have taken shelter in nearby temples while we are on the run to evade arrest,” he said.

In 2014, the then upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Sharankhola allocated 17.85 acres of land from a vested property to the 15 landless families including freedom fighters, and they started living here, said locals and present UNO Lincon Biswas.

“After the allocation, Farid Khan demanded the ownership of the land and filed an application to Bagerhat additional deputy commissioner to cancel the allocation. A court recently issued an injunction in favour of Farid Khan,” the UNO said.

“On Saturday morning, miscreants burned the houses of the landless people living on the disputed land. Police have been instructed to find out the culprits,” he said.

Sharankhola Police Station OC Kabirul Islam admitted that police on Friday went to arrest the accused in the case filed by Farid Khan.

“On Saturday morning, miscreants burnt 25 houses. We are trying to identify the culprits,” he said.