A bus driver died after being attacked by pedestrians amid an altercation with a passenger over fare in Dhaka’s Ashulia.
The incident took place in Narsinghpur’s Itkhola on Tuesday evening, said Ashulia Police Station SI Al Mamun Kabir.
The dead man has been identified as 29-year-old Ariful Islam, a resident of Gazipur's Konabari. He drove a Kiron Mala Paribahan bus.
"After conducting a preliminary investigation, we learnt that bystanders severely beat up the driver after he had an argument with a passenger over fare. Afterwards, he was taken to a hospital where the on-duty doctor declared him dead,” Al Mamun Kabir said.
Police later recovered Ariful's body from the Centre for Woman and Child Health and sent it to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for autopsy.
Md Khokon, assistant to the driver, said that the Kiron Mala Paribahan bus travels from Konabari to Mirpur. A passenger boarded the bus from Konabari. According to Khokon, the passenger kept saying that he would pay the fare later despite being given several reminders.
However, after the bus reached Itkhola, the passenger made off without paying.
“When I asked for the fare again, he punched me. The driver then got off the bus and asked him to pay up. The passenger then snatched a brickbat from the side of the road and attempted to vandalise the vehicle. The driver managed to stop him but then the passenger started to attack the driver. Bystanders also started hitting him indiscriminately.”
Ariful ran from the mob and boarded the bus to escape the beating, Khokon said. Once inside, he fell unconscious. When taken to a nearby hospital, the doctor said that Ariful died from an injury to his neck.
Ashulia police are preparing a case on the incident, Kabir said.
