Conflict with another 'pir' led to murder

The “pir” and his female attendant were killed inside a shrine in Dinajpur's Doula village on Monday because of his conflict with another “pir” over religious views, police claimed yesterday.

The murders have nothing to do with militancy, said Hamidul Alam, superintendent of police in the district, at a press conference at his office.

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The accused “pir”, Ihsaq Ali, 55, and Saidur Rahman, 45, a Khadem at the shrine in Bochaganj upazila, gave confessional statements before a Dinajpur court yesterday, admitting their involvement in the double murder, said police.

The SP said there had been a longstanding conflict between the slain “pir”, Farhad Hossain, 65, and Ihsaq, a resident of Pathardubi village in Kurigram's Bhurungamari upazila. Once a follower of Ihsaq, Farhad later claimed himself a “pir” and founded the shrine in his village in 2010.   

Saidur along with seven others “directly” took part in the murders masterminded by Ihsaq, claimed the police official after the interrogation of the duo.

The SP declined to disclose the names of the other suspects for the “sake of the investigation”.

”We are trying to arrest them,” he said.

Saidur along with the other killers went inside the shrine and strangled Farhad. They also shot him, leaving him dead on the spot. Rupali Begum, 19, was killed as she was an eyewitness to the murder, he said. She was working at the kitchen that time.

Ihsaq arranged the arms and supplied the killers for the murders, said Hamidul.

Two days after the murder on Monday, Farhad's daughter Sultana Farhana Emi filed a murder case with Bochaganj Police Station, accusing unidentified criminals.