Youth Murder by 'Land Grabbers'
None arrested in Shyamnagar
Our Correspondent, Satkhira
None was arrested till yesterday in the May 28 incident at Mehendi Nagar village in Shyamnagar upazila in which a youth was killed allegedly by land grabbers as he resisted the bid. A case was filed against 31 alleged land grabbers after the incident that triggered protests by people of both Muslim and Hindu communities. Shah Jahan, 30, son of Safiur Rahman of the village was beaten to death by musclemen of Fazlul Haque, an alleged land grabber, who wanted to occupy about 40 decimal of lands including the temple of Lord Krishna built about 200 years ago. But, no criminal was arrested in this regard till filing of the report. People belonging to both Hindu and Muslim communities held a meeting on the temple premises on Monday. The meeting demanded immediate arrest and punishment to the killers. Speakers urged the Chief Advisor for immediate action against the killers and measures. Panic gripped the village where 100 families of both Hindu and Muslim communities reside in harmony. During the attack, the culprits damaged the temple and assaulted Hindu housewives and their girls. As a result, Shefali Rani Mondal, Manati Rani Mondal, Sushila Mondal, Anima Rani Mondal, Binoy Krishna Mondal, Rabindra Nath Mondal, Tarak Kumar Mondal and others were injured. Mahendi Nagar Lord Krishna Temple Committee secretary Sudhangsu Kumar Mondal filed a case with Shyamnagar Police Station accusing 31 people including Fazlul Haque. Additional police forces have been deployed to curb further untoward incident. The accused are now threatening the temple committee leaders to withdraw the case or face the dire consequence, Sudhangsu said. Police said, a dispute arose between the villagers and Fazlul Haque son of Mobarak Ali over ownership of 40 decimals of land including Lord Krishna Temple about 8 months ago. Fazlul Haque claimed to have purchased the land from Bijoy Mondal. At that time, local police administration and Union Parishad (UP) held separate arbitration meetings to resolve the issue. The meetings said Bijoy Mondal has no right to transfer the land to Fazlul Haque. Two separate notices were issued to Fazlul Haque asking him not to claim the land, police and UP sources said. But defying the order, Fazlul Haque and his hired goons tried to occupy the land and the temple forcibly and killed Shah Jahan who resisted them.
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