Farid Uddin, a member of Chargazi union parishad in Ramgati upazila of Lakshmipur, and several others slaughtered a stray deer and shared out the meat. Farid himself confirmed this to the reporter on the evening of Friday, 7 April. The deer had been slaughtered earlier that afternoon in the Boyarchar area of Chargazi.

On hearing of the slaughter, members of Ramgati's Tegachhia police camp went to the scene. They first seized the deer meat, but then, for unexplained reasons, left the meat behind.

According to local sources, the deer is believed to have strayed from its herd on Nijhum Dwip in Hatiya upazila of Noakhali, drifted along the river and reached a remote char. On the night of Thursday, 6 April, someone brought it from there to Boyarchar in Ramgati, and it was kept at UP member Farid's house. On Friday morning the deer tried to escape and was caught again in the Mir Bazar area of Boyarchar. It was then taken to the house of local resident Siraj Majhi and slaughtered. UP member Farid, his associates Mukit Majhi and Akbar Hossain and several others then divided the meat and took it away.

When the reporter phoned Nirmal, in-charge of the Tegachhia police camp, and identified himself as a journalist, Nirmal refused to talk about the deer. He said he would speak if the reporter came to the camp, and hung up.

Farid Uddin, member for ward No 5 of Chargazi union parishad, gave a different account. He said a man named Alauddin in the Bhuiyarhat area of Hatiya keeps several deer, and one escaped from his farm and came to the Boyarchar area of Ramgati. It fell ill after being bitten by dogs, and local people caught it and slaughtered it, he said.

Ramgati police station officer-in-charge (OC) Alamgir Hossain said: "I heard the deer was bitten by dogs, and local people then slaughtered it. Police were sent to the scene on getting the news."

Ramgati upazila nirbahi officer SM Shantunu Chowdhury did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

Md Firoz Alam, assistant conservator of forests in the Lakshmipur Forest Department, said: "Slaughtering a deer is a crime. Since the police went to the scene, they could have seized the meat and taken legal action. I will look into the matter."

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