Hindu temple set afire in Thakurgaon

Criminals set fire to a temple and vandalised an idol of Kali in Pokati Paschimpara village of Thakurgaon Sadar upazila early yesterday.

Chakra Mahon, president of the temple committee, said devotees left the temple around midnight after performing hari-kirtan (Hindu religious song), reports our Thakurgaon correspondent.

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Devotees, who went to the temple for worship in the morning, found that the idol was badly damaged and the temple was set on fire.

Some local Hindus said the criminals carried out the attack on the temple as part of recent attacks on temples elsewhere in the country.

The attack panicked the religious minority community people, they said.

Superintendent of Thakurgaon police Farhad Ahmed visited the spot.

Leaders of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad's district unit, including its President Arunangshu Datta Tito and General Secretary Tapan Kumar Ghosh, visited the temple.

Tito told The Daily Star that people who want to destroy communal harmony in the area vandalised and set fire to the temple.

He also demanded that the real culprits be brought to book immediately after an investigation.

Police detained local union parishad Chairman Poygam Ali, also the organising secretary of the district BNP, for his alleged involvement in the attack.   

In another incident, Banaripara police arrested one Babul Howlader on charges of vandalising several idols, including Durga, of a temple in Banaripara Bazar on Thursday.

Ziaul Ahasan, officer-in-charge of Banaripara Police Station, said Babul was arrested from his house in Narottampur village under Banaripara upazila last night.

During primary interrogation, Babul confessed to involvement in the attack, said the police official.

Meanwhile, Barisal city unit of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Parishad formed a human chain in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall yesterday, protesting the attacks on religious minority community and Hindu temples at different places in the country.