Police flashlight takes lives of bicyclist, child

Two people died and 40 others were injured when a bus hit a bicycle and fell into a pond after its driver lost control of the steering when a police's torch flashed into his eyes, according to passengers and witnesses.

The passengers said the accident took place on the Mymensingh-Kishoreganj highway at Palahar of Nandail upazila in Mymensingh at 8:30pm on Sunday.

The police were halting buses and forcefully collecting toll in the area, the passengers alleged.  

They said the Chittagong-bound bus was passing some vehicles which had been halted by police, and was heading towards Kishoreganj.

The bus driver lost control when police flashed a torch into the eyes of the driver, the passengers alleged.

They said the bicycle rider Jahangir Alam died on the spot when the bus hit his cycle. Jahangir was the son of late Syed Mia, and also an honours’ second year student of Gurudayal College in Kishoreganj.

 All 40 passengers of the bus were injured as the bus fell into the pond, the passengers said.

A five-year old child, who was one of the bus passengers, succumbed to its injuries on the way to hospital. The identity of the child could not be known immediately.

Later, agitated locals beat up highway police station sub inspector Pradip Kumar Majumdar and constable Md Kamal Mia. All members of police in the area fled the scene. Hundreds of people blocked the road and demonstrated protesting the death of Jahangir. Members of Nandail model police station rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Local MP Anwarul Abedin Khan visited the spot and at 10:00pm. 

Villagers alleged Nandail highway police collect toll from vehicles along the highway. They take up position at a solitary place between Mushuli and Palahar every afternoon, they said. When the sun sets, police collect toll by flashing their torches into the drivers’ faces and halting vehicles, the villagers said,

"When I visited the spot of the accident, the villagers complained that the police collect toll at night," lawmaker Anwarul Abedin told Prothom Alo.

Nandail highway police station officer-in-charge Md Mamun Rahman denied the allegation.

He said injured sub-inspector Pradip Kumar was being treated at Nandail upazila health complex.      

A member of the highway police admitted that two policemen were beaten up by the mob.