According to police and witnesses, four muggers in the guise of passengers hired a CNG-run autorikshaw to travel to Hathazari from the city's GEC intersection at around 8:30pm.

When the auto-rikshaw reached Shikerpur under the upazila, the muggers dragged the driver, leaving him in a paddy field with his hands and legs tied, and tried to flee with the vehicle.

As the driver cried for help, locals and traders of a nearby market intercepted the muggers and caught two of them, while the remaining two managed to flee.

They beat up the muggers, resulting in their death on the spot.

Meanwhile, one elderly man identified as Abul Hossain, 52, drowned when an engine boat capsized in the river Karnaphuli yesterday morning.

The boat with ten people aboard sank at Charlaikkha point in the river when its propellers hit an anchor-rope of a vessel there, witnesses said.

However, the other passengers of the boat swam ashore, they said.