A bus was set on fire and its driver and his assistant suffered mob beating as a youth died after falling off a moving bus in the capital’s Jatrabari Shaheed Faruk Road on Saturday evening.

The victim, Abu Sayem Murad, 35, is a buying house employee.

The family of the victim alleged that the bus staff pushed him off the bus during an argument over fare.

Locals set the bus of Route No. 8 on fire and its driver, Shah Alam, and his helper, Mohan Mia, suffered a mob beating before police rescued them.

Murad was returning to his Jatrabari house from Motijheel, said his brother Abu Sadat Sahed.

Sahed said that the bus driver and helper tortured Murad and threw him off the bus.

Murad was run over by the bus, leaving him dead on spot, Sahed said.

Jatrabari police station inspector investigation Sikder Mohitul Alam said that they were yet to confirm whether the bus staff pushed Murad off or he slipped off the bus while getting down.

Police are trying to talk to other bus passengers and scrutinise any possible CCTV footage, said the police officer.

The injured driver and his assistant were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. The driver’s injured assistant Mohon told journalists there that Murad had a heated argument with another passenger.

Murad slipped off while trying to get down from the bus after the argument, and then the bus ran over him, said Mohon