General Secretary of Bangladesh Workers Party Chuadanga unit Shyamal Sarker died at the Jessore General Hospital Saturday night allegedly in torture in Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) custody.

Sarker's family members said Rab men arrested him from his village home at Ibrahimpur under Damurhuda upazila of the district on December 9 last year. The family members alleged that the Rab tortured him severely in their custody and then kept Sarker in the district jail untreated.

Earlier, the Rab sources had said they nabbed Sarker from the residence of an outlawed outfit member Siddiq along with the outlaw operative, and recovered firearms and ammunition.

Sarker's family, however, FROM PAGE 1

contradicted on the recovery of arms from his possession at the time of arrest.

Lt Col Farhad Ahmed, commanding officer of Rab-6 (Khulna), denying the allegation of torture said, "It is an absurd allegation that Sarker died from torture after four months of his arrest."

Sarker was being taken to Jessore Central Jail on March 31 when his condition deteriorated. He was then admitted to Jessore General Hospital, instead of jail hospital, where he died at 11:30pm on Saturday.

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, General Secretary Bimal Biswas condoled the death of Sarker. The leaders blamed the Rab torture and negligence of the jail authorities for Sarker's death. They also demanded investigation into the matter and punishment of the persons responsible.