The residents of Nazimuddin Road, Begum Bazar and Abul Hasnat Road alleged that a group of jail guards on Friday night stormed into their houses around 10:30pm. They looted valuables, ransacked furniture and beat them up severely and then left.

Sheikh Rafiq, a fruit trader of Begum Bazar said, "The jail guards snatched Tk 5,000 from me and damaged 100kg of mangoes which I had bought to sell later."

Emran Hossain Pathan, a madrasa teacher, said jail guards picked him up at Nazimuddin Road around 10:30pm on Friday night. The guards took him inside the jail and tortured him until 3:00am yesterday.

Hundreds of people thronged the power distribution centre adjacent to Dhaka Central Jail and vandalised the office, as football lovers failed to watch about 10 minutes of the match between Argentina and Germany on Friday night due to power cuts.

The mob beat up jail guards as they went there to bring the situation under control. Jail sources said as the jail guards tried to stop the mob from vandalising jail vehicles the agitated crowd attacked the guards leaving 15 guards injured.

A jail official said, "We arranged a meeting with the police, locals and the local ward commissioner where we gave assurance of making a proper investigation into the incident." An investigation committee is to be formed today, a jail source added.