Police yesterday filed a case with Tongi police station accusing 3,000 unknown people said to be involved in the clashes between garments (RMG) workers and police at Ershad Nagar in Tongi in Gazipur district on Saturday. Meanwhile, another person died from wounds at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) that raised the death toll to 3.

"We will take stern action against the people, who are responsible for the incident and the instigators and godfathers having links to the clash will also be brought to book after getting the inquiry report for stopping recurrence of labour unrest in the future," said home minister Advocate Sahara Khatun at the secretariat yesterday.

The death of Tajul Islam, 50, a mason and resident of Ershad Nagar, took the death toll in the incident to three. Khokon, son of the deceased, identified the body as his father Tajul's at Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue on Sunday. When Tajul was brought to DMCH, police did not confirm that he received injuries in the Tongi clashes, sources said.

The officer-in-charge of Tongi police station, Tapan Chandra Saha, claimed that the man was admitted to DMCH at about 7:30pm when the clashes in Tongi ended at around 11:30am Saturday. The cause of his injuries was mentioned in the hospital's admission register as road accident, he claimed. However, our officer has been sent to DMCH to investigate the incident, he added.

The government yesterday formed a 5-member probe committee headed by labour secretary Md Ataharul Islam to inquire into the clashes between the police and workers over unpaid dues at Nippon Garments factory at Ershad Nagar in Tongi. The committee also comprises of a representative each from the home ministry, BGMEA, BKMEA and labour leaders. The committee was asked to submit its inquiry report within 15 days to the government for taking further action against the culprits.

The committee was formed at a tripartite meeting with the government, garment owners and workers held at the home ministry with home minister Advocate Sahara Khatun in the chair. After the meeting, Advocate Sahara Khatun told reporters that two outsiders were killed and some others, including five policemen, injured during the clashes. She also hinted that the government would take action against the owners of Nippon Garments industry if the owners had closed temporarily their factory violating the factory rules. "We will protect the garments industry at any cost with a view to checking any kind of violence in the sector," she added.

Meanwhile, the officer-in-charge (OC) of Tongi police station filed a case against the 3,000 unknown people. The accused included the two deceased and the eight arrested from the spot on Saturday. "The case has been filed against 2,000 to 3,000 unidentified people on charges of vandalism, arson and obstructing police to perform their duties," the OC said. The deceased were identified as rickshaw-van puller Babul Sheikh of Mymensingh and mason Shafiqul Islam Shafiq of Bhola. Their wives are workers at Nippon Garment Industries Limited, centring which the clashes erupted Saturday.

The bodies were handed over to their relatives after the post-mortem examination at the Gazipur Hospital morgue. The bodies were then taken away to their village home for burial. Except Babul and Shafiqul, the first investigation report mentioned the names of Shah Alam, Rokon, Abu Bakar, Korban Ali, Arif, Ibrahim, Zainal and Saiful. The eight were arrested on Saturday and were sent to jail on Sunday as the police did not seek any remand for them after producing them before the court.

-The Independent