FROM PAGE 14

“I rushed to the hospital around 3:00am and found my brother dead.”

Contacted, Jibitesh Biswas, superintendent of Gopalganj 250-bed General Hospital, said Elahi was taken to the hospital three times in the last few days.

Elahi was first hospitalised around 11:25pm on September 3. He was given treatment and released a few moments later, said Jibitesh.

Around three hours later, he was taken to the hospital again. There were several injury marks on the lower part of his body, the doctor added.

Elahi was brought dead to the hospital from the district jail around 1:00am yesterday, Jibitesh added.

Anisur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Gopalganj Sadar Police Station, told The Daily Star that Elahi was shown arrested in the case around 12:15am on September 4.

Abul Hossain, jailer of the Gopalganj district jail, said, “Elahi was ill when he was taken to the jail on September 4. He even could not walk properly on that day.”

He had injury marks on the lower part of the body and the hands, he said.

“We learnt that he was taken to jail after being discharged from Gopalganj 250-bed General Hospital. Then, we sent him again to the hospital on the same day [September 4]. Elahi received treatment there and was taken to the jail a day later,” he said.

Elahi fell ill again on Saturday night and was hospitalised. But doctors declared him dead, the jailer added.

Earlier on August 10, a group of Awami League activists blocked the Dhaka-Khulna highway in protest of “forcing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to leave the country”.

Their protest caused long traffic jam. On information, army personnel rushed there and asked the protesters to leave the highway. But the protesters were locked in an altercation with army personnel. At one stage, the protesters attacked them, leaving nine army personnel injured.

An army vehicle was torched, and two firearms were looted.

On August 22, Lt Col Md Maksudul Alam of the 10th Bengal Regiment lodged a case with Gopalganj Sadar Police Station accusing 106 named and some 3,000-3,200 unidentified people in connection with the incident.

OC Anisur said 22 accused were arrested so far in the case and they were sent to jail through the court.