Hindu temple ransacked over land dispute
A Hindu temple was vandalised by miscreants at Panchpara Bazar of Pirojpur Sadar Upazila early yesterday.
Around 2:00am, some 45-50 men began to vandalise the Kali Mandir, situated at Panchpara Bazar, with iron bars and sticks, Sudhir Majhi, general secretary of the temple managing committee, told journalists yesterday.
As locals sensed their presence and began protesting the vandalism, the criminals fled the scene.
He also claimed that Sikder Mallik Union Parishad chairman Advocate Shahidul Islam vandalised the temple to grab its land, adding that a dispute regarding the land the temple was built on had been going on for about 11 years between Hindu locals and Shahidul.
The matter had also been taken to court, he said.
President of the temple managing committee said he had filed a case in connection to the vandalism against Shahidul and 44 others, with Pirojpur Sadar Police Station.
SM Ziaul Haque, officer-in-charge of the police station, said a case was filed against 45 people, in which 10 people were named with Shahidul being the prime accused.
Police have already caught two suspects named Mohidul and Wahiduzzaman, he said, adding that they were trying to nab all the accused in the case.
After the incident, locals kept the Pirojpur-Gopalganj-Dhaka road in the area blocked for hours, demanding exemplary punishment of the culprits.
Being assured by police that appropriate punishment will be given in this regard, the locals later withdrew the blockade.
Upon visiting the spot, Mollah Azad Hossain, additional superintendent of police in Pirojpur, said they were investigating the incident.
UP chairman Shahidul, who lives in Dhaka, could not be contacted by this correspondent for a comment as his mobile phone remained switched off.
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