Mob kills man over ‘hurting religious sentiments’

A garment worker was beaten to death by a mob in Mymensingh's Bhaluka upazila on Thursday night over allegations of "hurting religious sentiments".

The victim, Dipu Chandra Das, 27, of the district's Tarakanda upazila, was an employee of Pioneer Knitwears, police said.

Abdullah Al Mamun, additional superintendent (admin and finance) of police Mymensingh, said a factory official told the Bhaluka police that a group of workers started beating up Dipu inside the factory over allegations of "derogatory remarks about holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH)" around 8:00pm.

Factory sources said the attackers took Dipu out the factory and locals also joined them, killing him on the spot. They also set the body on fire, leaving it partially burnt.

Police later recovered the body and sent it to Mymensingh Medical College morgue for an autopsy.

The police official added that they were aware of the allegations from different quarters, but the allegations have yet to be verified as no audio or video has been found in this connection.

Victim's brother Apu Chandra Das yesterday filed a case with Bhaluka Police Station, accusing 140-150 unnamed persons, but no one was arrested yet, said the official, adding, "Police drives are on to arrest the perpetrators."

The body of Dipu, father of a three-year-old girl, reached at his Mukamiakanda village home in Tarakanda yesterday afternoon, said Tanbir Ahmed, officer-in-charge of Tarakanda Police Station.

Meanwhile, the government, in a statement yesterday, strongly condemned the killing, stating such violence has no place in "new Bangladesh". No one involved in this heinous crime will be spared, the statement added.