Jhenaidah: Reports have now come in of another Hindu man being assaulted by a mob in Bangladesh. Gobinda Biswas, a rickshaw-puller, was allegedly targeted in the Jhenaidah district of the Khulna division, for wearing a red sacred thread around his wrist.
He was thrashed, branded an agent of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and handed over to the police.
A video that has surfaced shows him pleading with policemen that he is a rickshaw-puller.
This comes days after the gruesome murder of Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh for alleged blasphemy. Authorities have now said that there is no evidence that shows Das said or did anything blasphemous.
According to a report by News18, rumours were spread at the scene alleging that Biswas was linked to India’s intelligence agency. Following the rumours, a crowd gathered and assaulted him.
Biswas was allegedly beaten near the gate of the Jhenaidah district municipality before being handed over to the police. He sustained injuries to his throat and chest, officials said. He was later detained at the Jhenaidah Sadar police station.
In another video from inside the police station, an unidentified voice claims that Biswas’s mobile phone showed multiple WhatsApp transactions linked to the Reserve Bank of India and that he had received a call from a person in India. Biswas reportedly told police that the caller, identified as Akash, was personally known to him.
Officials in Bangladesh are probably not aware that the Reserve Bank of India makes no transactions to personal accounts.
The officer-in-charge of Jhenaidah Sadar police station confirmed Biswas’s detention and said preliminary inquiries revealed that he had lived in India for several years, the report says.
The official said police were examining the allegations regarding possible links to Indian agencies.
India has already slammed Bangladesh on false reports being published by the media in that country about a protest outside the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.
The Ministry of External Affairs has also said that the situation in Bangladesh is being closely monitored. It has also expressed concern over the attack on minorities in that country.
