Among the dead two were identified as hathkata Nasir, a recognised criminal of Patiya, and Delwar Hossain of Sitakundu, police said.

Believing them to be dacoits, a crowd beat three to death at a local bazaar at Shantirhat in Patiya at 10:00pm, police said.

The other victims were unidentified till filing of this report at 7:00pm yesterday.

Police recovered the bodies.

In the other incident, hundreds of

local people roughed up five mercilessly suspecting them as dacoits at Keshabpur in Sitakundu at midnight, witnesses said.

Delwar Hossain succumbed to his injuries on way to hospital, Sitakundu police said.

The injured were identified as Nurunnabi, Jamal Uddin, Rubel and Mamun. They were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.