Cashiers appointed by the lessee of the Gopalpur cattle market in Alfadanga, Faridpur, clashed with cattle buyers over the market toll.

The incident happened at around 4pm on Saturday, 31 May, while the toll was being collected at the Gopalpur cattle market in the upazila.

Two of the market's cashiers, Shahidul Sheikh, 56, and Bhulu Mia, 67, were reportedly injured in the attack by buyers and have been admitted to the upazila health complex. A written complaint has been filed with the local police station. The cashiers allege that the buyers snatched Tk 1,95,000 during the attack.

According to the victims, the written complaint and police, buyers Leon Molla and Roni Molla had an altercation and scuffle with the lessee's cashier Shahidul Sheikh over the toll for a cattle purchase. At one point the buyers attacked Shahidul. When the other cashier, Bhulu Mia, came forward, he too was beaten and injured. About Tk 1,95,000 in the cash box and in hand was snatched. They also threatened to shut down the market unless another Tk 1 lakh was paid at the next market day. People nearby rescued the injured and took them to the upazila health complex.

Cashier Shahidul Sheikh filed the written complaint with the police station naming Roni Molla, Leon Molla, Raju and Shawkat Molla, with another 10-15 unnamed people also accused. The accused are residents of the local Kamar village.

Asked about it, accused Leon Molla told Jago News: "We are local residents. We went to the market to buy cattle and bought one. Then we went to pay the hasil and asked them to take a little less. They would not, and got into an argument. There was an exchange of words and some pushing, but no fighting. Afterwards they broke their own cash box and blamed us. Later we learned they had filed a complaint against us at the police station, which is completely false and fabricated."

Cashier Shahidul Sheikh, appointed by the lessee, told Jago News that the accused used their influence to beat them, and snatched Tk 1,20,000 in cash he had for buying cattle and about Tk 75,000 from the cash box. They also threatened that Tk 1 lakh in extortion would have to be paid at the next market day, or the market would be shut. "We are now admitted to hospital," he said.

Sub-inspector (SI) Sujan Biswas of the police station said they had received the written complaint and action would be taken after investigation.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.