Bangladesh Police on Sunday arrested nine more people in connection with attacks on Hindu temples and members of the community in the Muslim-majority country, taking the total number of arrests to 53 so far.
The arrests were made when police carried out drives in different areas, Nasirnagar police station Officer-in-Charge Abu Jafar said.
Police said they have arrested nine more people for their alleged involvement in the recent attacks on the Hindus living in Brahmanbaria’s Nasirnagar upazila, taking the total number of people arrested so far to 53, Dhaka Tribune reported.
The arrested people would be produced before local court without remand plea, he said.
Authorities have suspended Nasirnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Chowdhury Moazzem Hossain.
Miscreants set on fire at least six houses of Hindus in a predawn attack on Friday in Brahmanbarhia district’s Nasirnagar, the place where at least fifteen temples and more than 20 houses were vandalised after a Facebook post deemed offensive to Islam sparked outrage in the country.
Meanwhile, livestock and Fisheries Minister Sayedul Haque today denied his alleged anti-Hindu stance, saying he would quit his position in the Cabinet if someone could prove the allegations.
He said the allegation are part of a plot to destroy his “decades of political career”.
“During my political career in the past decades, I never had any problem with Hindu community... I will quit my ministerial position if anyone could prove what is being said against me,” he told a press conference at his constituency at Nasirnagar sub-district of central Brahmanbaria.