Local people beat an elderly man to death, suspecting his involvement in cattle lifting, in Bagmara upazila of the district on Wednesday.

The victim, Ibrahim, 65, a resident of Kamarbari village in the upazila, was declared dead soon after he was admitted to Bagmara Upazila Health Complex around 3:00pm, Officer in Charge (OC) of Bagmara Police station Nasim Uddin said, adding that the body bore numerous marks of injuries.

Quoting the victim's family members and villagers, police said two cattle of one Atikur Rahman of Kalupara village were stolen on Monday and owner Atikur and his brother Shariful Islam suspected that Ibrahim, who was known as a cattle lifter in the locality, might have committed the theft.

As a sequel, the two brothers and their men forcibly picked up Ibrahim from his house on Wednesday noon and took him to Atikur's house.

Later, as Ibrahim denied his involvement in the crime, they started beating him, leaving him critically injured, the OC said.

Ibrahim's wife Reshma, who followed her husband to Atikur's house, said due to the merciless beating when Ibrahim went unconscious, Atikur's men took him to the health complex.

Meanwhile, following a case filed by Ibrahim's wife with Bagmara Police Station accusing nine people by name and 10 others unnamed police detained two villagers -- Majnu, 38, and Majnu, 26.