Almost all the Hindu men of Panchapalli in Faridpur's Madhukhali upazila have gone into hiding, fearing arrests and also backlash from zealots, following the killing of two brothers suspected of setting fire to a temple.

On April 18, Ashraful Khan, 20, and Asadul Khan, 18, were beaten to death and five others were injured by a mobwho alleged the victims had set fire to the Kali temple in Panchapalli's Krishna Nagar, according to media reports.

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Two killed in Faridpur mob beating

Two weeks since the incident, law enforcers are still deployed in the area to avert any further violence.

Visiting around 20 houses in Panchapalli on May 1, this correspondent saw only women and children living in them. No men were present.

Arati Mondal, a homemaker, confirmed that all the men in Panchapalli have left their homes amid fear of arrests.

Another resident, Bimola Mondal, said, "We can't sleep out of fear, especially with no men in our house or the neighbourhood."

Reba Mondal, a 65-year-old resident of Krishna Nagar, said, "Though police are deployed in our village, we're still afraid of reprisal."

Quoting locals, Morshed Alam, superintendent of Faridpur police, said some residents saw that the clothes put on the idol had caught fire and thought construction workers at the nearby Panchapalli Government Primary School had done it.

"Seven workers were then confined to a room in the school and beaten up. The two brothers died in the incident," he told journalists on the day of the incident.

On April 21, a video clip of the workers being beaten up went viral on social media.

In it, Dumain Union Parishad Chairman Shah Asaduzzaman and member Ajit Kumar Biswas were seen to be involved. Both have gone into hiding since it was released.

On April 26, Deputy Commissioner of Faridpur Qamrul Ahsan Talukdar announced a reward for handing them to law enforcers for their involvement in the incident.

The Daily Star has seen the clip.

Contacted, the victims' father Md Shajahan Khan, said, "A few days before the incident, my sons told me that some people wanted to take away some iron rods from the construction site but they resisted.

"I then requested Jalal Sheikh, sub-contractor of the construction site, to remove my sons from the school's work. He did not listen to me. Instead, he later showed up with my sons' dead bodies."

A cousin of the brothers, Imran Khan said, "Around six to eight people killed my brothers. It wasn't a mob beating. A fire was deliberately set to the temple to divert the incident to a different direction."

WHAT HAPPENED ON APRIL 18

Tapati Mondal, priestess of the temple, said, "Like other days, I went to the temple and lit the evening lamp around 6:30pm."

She added, "Around 15 minutes later, I went to the premises I stay on, just a few yards from the temple. I suddenly heard some noise of the workers [who were working nearby] followed by someone shouting that the temple was on fire.

"Some villagers then came and doused it."

Assistant teacher of the school Bimal Mondal, 56, said, "Our education officer informed me that there was some chaos at our school. I rushed to the spot around 7:30pm.

"I saw the construction workers sitting in a room in the school. A few moments later, the chairman [Dumain Union Parishad Chairman Shah Asaduzzaman] and a member [union parishad member Ajit Kumar Biswas] came there."

He added many people then began gathering there and shouting. "As chaos was erupting, I left the scene."

Police said they went to the spot when the situation got out of control and some of their officers were attacked and injured.

Three cases were filed in connection with the incident – a murder case filed by the father of the two dead workers, an arson case filed by a local, and one filed by police over attack on law enforcers.

So far, 23 people have been arrested in the cases, and four of them given confessional statements before a court, police said.