Pro-AL councillor candidate held over death of rival's mother

Police have arrested a pro-Awami League councillor candidate in Mymensingh's Gafargaon municipality for allegedly killing the elderly mother of his rival candidate.

Anisur Rahman, president of ward no-3 unit of AL in the municipality, was arrested on Thursday night, said Tofazzol Hossain, officer-in-charge of Gafargaon Police Station. 

Two of Anisur's nephews -- Md Sohagh, 19, and Iqbal Hasan, 15, -- were arrested earlier in this connection and sent to jail, he said.

Rabeya Begum, 65, the paralysed mother of councillor candidate Azizul Islam, also AL's general secretary of the same ward, died in an attack by his rival Anisur Wednesday night.

Azizul filed a murder case against 55 people, 19 of them named, and made Anisur the prime accused.

Police said supporters of the two candidates clashed on Wednesday evening over bringing people to a Sramik League rally in Gafargaon Railway Station area.

That night, Anisur's men attacked the house of Azizul with sticks and sharp weapons, leaving Azizul's mother, two brothers, and his wife injured, says the case statement. His mother died later in hospital. Azizul, however, escaped unhurt.

The OC said they sent the body for autopsy, adding, "We did not find any injury mark on her body. The reason of her death would be revealed through autopsy.”