A man was beaten to death allegedly by some staffers of a drinking water supplying factory for "stealing a mobile phone set" in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong early yesterday.

The dead, Abdul Malek, 35, was the son of Siddikur Rahman of Haziganj upazila in Chandpur, police said.

Quoting locals, Iftekher Hasan, officer-in-charge of Sitakunda Police Station, said one Azam along with some employees of the factory dragged out Malek of his rented house at Shitalpur around 12:30am after a mobile phone went missing from the factory.

Locals found the body of Malek on a road in the morning and informed the police.

“There were injury marks on different parts of the body,” he said.

Police did not know that the victim was taken away from his house by some people, said the OC, adding that, “Had we been informed, we would have conducted a drive to rescue him."

Police detained five people in this connection, he said.

The police official added that Rifat Chowdhury, owner of the factory, and Azam went into hiding.