Slain NY imam laid to rest in Habiganj
Bangladeshi expatriate imam Maulana Alauddin Akhonjee, who along with his assistant was shot to death in New York of the US on Saturday, was laid to eternal rest at Gospara village in Chunarughat upazila today.
Alauddin Akhonjee was buried at his family graveyard around 5:30 pm following his second namaz-e-janaza at the local eidgah on Amu Road in the upazila.
Earlier, his first janaza was held at the Central Eidgah of the district at 4 pm after the body arrived from the capital around 2:30 pm.
Local MP Advocate Abu Zahir, officials of district administration, political leaders and eminent personalities attended the janaza.
The body of the slain imam arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 8:40 am by a flight of Emirates Airlines from the USA.
A delegation of the ruling Awami League, including its office secretary Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap, information and research affairs secretary Afzal Hossain and central working committee member Sujit Roy Nandi, received the body at the airport.
Later, the body was handed over to the family members around 11 am and from there the body was taken to Habiganj by an ambulance.
The Emirates flight, EK202, carrying the mortal remains of Akhonjee left New York at 11 pm on Wednesday and the flight, EK 582, reached Dhaka from Dubai today morning, Shameem Ahsan, consul general at Bangladesh Consulate in New York, told UNB.
The imam and his assistant, also a Bangladeshi expatriate, were gunned down in a brazen daylight attack by a terrorist in New York while returning home from a mosque after saying Zohr prayers.
Akhonjee, 55, hailed from Chunarughat upazila of Habiganj while the other victim, Tera Uddin, 64, from Laxmipasha village in Golapganj upazila of Sylhet district.
Alauddin, father of three sons and five daughters, had gone to the US along with his first wife, one son and four daughters in 2011.
His second wife, two sons and a daughter are living in Shayestanagar of the district town.
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