Dhaka: In yet another case of suspected attack on a member of the minority community in Bangladesh, the caretaker of a temple the the southeastern part of the country was found dead, three days after being taken away from home.
The body of 40-year-old Nayan Sadhu was discovered hanging from a tree in a hilly area near his village, the police said.
Two unidentified men took Sadhu away from his home in the Dohazari area on the evening of April 19, the police said. The body was later recovered on the village outskirts, when decomposition had already begun, officials said.
It is yet to be confirmed whether the death is a case of murder or suicide, the police said. The body has been sent for autopsy to determine the exact cause, and officers are treating the matter as a suspicious death.
The investigation began after Sadhu’s spouse lodged a missing person’s
complaint on April 19. Local residents joined the search, and the discovery of the body in a secluded hilly zone has raised concerns among minority community groups in the region, as reported by PTI.
A resident of the Sthania Upazila in Chhattogram district, Sadhu Sadhu worked as a caretaker-cum-priest at a Shivakali temple in Khurushkul union under Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) said.
The newspaper Kaler Kantha, quoted by PTI, cited an unnamed police official who said, “We recovered the body when it had started getting decomposed.” The Bangladesh Puja Celebration Council’s Cox’s Bazar unit general secretary Jony Dhar argued that the three-day gap strongly suggested murder.
The Council demanded strong legal action against those responsible for the killing. “The Unity Council strongly condemns the incident and demands immediate arrest and exemplary punishment against the perpetrators,” the forum said.
“We just cannot understand what could be the motive of killing an ordinary caretaker of a relatively small temple in a remote area,” BHBCUC senior member Kajal Debnath said.
On April 9, the Council reported 133 incidents of communal violence in Bangladesh between January 1 and March 31 this year.