Police have arrested 13 more suspects in connection with the recent violence against a minority Hindu community during Durga Puja in Bangladesh. This information was given in media reports on Monday. Based on a tip-off, the police arrested Mamun Mandal, an Islamic student camp worker. The organization is an affiliate of Jamaat-e-Islami. The police also arrested local cleric Umar Farooq on Sunday. BDNews24.com quoted Superintendent of Police Biplav Kumar Sarkar as saying, “Mamun was active in the student camp since 2012. Later he lived in Malaysia for some time. Umar Farooq was the Imam at Peerganj South Bus Stand Masjid. On October 17, 66 houses were damaged and at least 20 belonging to Hindus were damaged by an angry mob in Peerganj upazila of Rangpur district, 255 km from here, amid protests by the minority community against the vandalism of temples during Durga Puja. Houses were set on fire.
68 people arrested so farAccording to the news, the station in-charge of Peerganj, Suresh Chandra, told that Mamun had ‘lit the fire by spraying petrol’ on the night of the violence. According to the news of ‘bdnews24.com’, the police have arrested 11 more people, including a leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, in connection with the violence against the Hindu community in Noakhali. In connection with the violence, the police have so far arrested 683 people, including the main accused Shaikt Mandal.
Main accused confessed to the crime According to a court official, Shaikt Mandal on Sunday admitted before a magistrate that his Facebook post had led to violence in Rangpur in Peerganj sub-district during Durga Puja on October 17. Mandal’s accomplice Rabiul Islam (36) is a cleric and has been accused of arson and robbery. Mandal is a philosophy student at Rangpur’s Carmichael College and was expelled from the ruling Awami League’s student wing Student League after his arrest. Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh constitute about 10 per cent of the total population.