'Land grabbers' eye madrasa playground
The Shaheed Minar on the premises of Purbo Nalbari Dakhil Madrasa in Khansama upazila under Dinajpur district lies dismantled and the field ploughed as criminals did the unscrupulous act allegedly to occupy land of the institution on Saturday last. Photo: STAR
Criminals have dismantled a Shaheed Minar on the premises of Purbo Nolbari Dakhil Madrasa in Khansama upazila under the district and ploughed the playground of the institution. They did the heinous act in a bid to occupy land of the institution, said madrasa authorities and police. Md Shamsul Haque, superintendent of the madrasa, filed a complaint with Khansama police station against five people on Sunday. A group of local influential people including Sultan Ali, Abdul Mozid, Asraf Ali, Fazlur Rahman and Mizanur Rahman along with their hired goons came to the madrasa on Saturday noon with a tractor and started ploughing the field to grab the 20-decimal playground, police quoted the superintendent as saying. Later the miscreants damaged the Shaheed Minar that had been built at a corner of the madrasa complex with the contribution of teachers and students of the institution early this year, police said. "The madrasa has remained closed since May 19 for summer vacation. Taking the opportunity, the influential land grabbers damaged the playground by ploughing and dismantled the Shaheed Minar. Hearing the incident I rushed to the spot and informed members of the madrasa managing committee," said the superintendent. Local people tried to resist the heinous act but the criminals drove them away, police said. The madrasa is built on a 1.01-acre piece of land. "Dismantling of the Shaheed Minar dedicated to the martyrs of 1952 Language Movement shows the extent of audacity by a section of fundamentalists. We want stern action against such heinous act," said Md Mokhlesur Rahman, commander of Khansama upazila unit of Muktijoddha Sangsad. "We visited the spot and found the Shaheed Minar dismantled. We have started an investigation into the incident," said Jahangir Alam, officer in charge of Khansama police station. The students of the madrasa gathered on the compound on Tuesday and staged demonstration there protesting the incident. This correspondent could not contact any of the accused as they remained out of their home and their cell phones were found off.
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