Hindu tea worker killed in Bangladesh
A young Hindu tea garden worker’s bloodied body was found with his hands and legs tied with ropes in the Moulvibazar area in northeast Bangladesh, a media report said on Thursday. Ahead of the voting for the 13th parliamentary elections being held on Thursday, this is the second murder of a Hindu person in as many days. Police recovered the body of 28-year-old Ratan Shuvo Kar from a tea garden in Moulvibazar’s Kamalganj upazila, about 200 kms northeast of Dhaka
The deceased was identified as Ratan Shuvo Kar, a worker of Champara Tea Garden under Islampur union, The Daily Star reported, quoting Kamalganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdul Awal. Locals spotted the body in the garden around 10:00 am and informed authorities, the report said. According to locals, the body bore visible injury marks and was found in a bloodied condition.
Ratan’s elder brother, Laxman Kar, said the family had been searching for him since night. “This morning (Wednesday), we were informed that his body was lying in the garden. We went there and identified him. We do not know why he was killed,” he said. The body was sent to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital for an autopsy, said the OC, adding that an investigation is underway to identify those involved.
Some locals speculated about possible links to tomorrow’s election, though no evidence was found in this regard, The Daily Star said. The Hindu population in Bangladesh has faced a series of attacks, some fatal, after the killing of radical youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi in December. On Monday, 62-year-old Hindu trader Susen Chandra Sarkar was hacked to death by unidentified men inside his shop at the Bogar Bazar intersection in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh.
Sarkar, the owner of ‘Bhai Bhai Enterprise,’ was a resident of Southkanda village, police said, adding, the attackers hacked him with a sharp weapon, left him inside the shop, and closed the shutters. According to monitoring by independent groups, there have been at least 15 targeted murders of Hindu minority individuals in a 45-day period, the South Asia Forum for Freedom of Religion Belief said in a statement on Tuesday. Last month, the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council alleged that as the date of the general elections draws nearer, communal violence is increasing at an alarming rate in the country.
