Dhaka, Dec 22 (.) A court in Mymensingh in Bangladesh placed 12 people on three days’ remand on Monday in connection with the horrific lynching of Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, who was beaten to death and his body set on fire for alleged blasphemy. Police said they had found no evidence that Dipu had committed blasphemy.
Senior Chief Judicial Magistrate Shahadat Hossain of the Mymensingh-7 Cognizance Court passed the order after police produced the accused before the court.
Court Inspector Sheikh Mostasinur Rahman said the victim’s younger brother, Apu Chandra Das, filed a case at Bhaluka Police Station on Friday afternoon, accusing 150–160 unidentified individuals of involvement in the killing.
Following the case filing, police and members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted raids in different areas of Bhaluka and arrested 12 people in connection with the incident, he said.
Police sought five days’ remand for each of the accused, but the court granted three days’ remand per person.
A team of Detective Branch of police on Saturday night arrested two more people, Ashiqur Rahman, 25, and Qayyum, 25, from the upazila’s Kashar area in the upazila’s Habirbari union, adding to the ten people arrested earlier.
The incident took place on Thursday night at the Pioneer Knitwears BD Limited factory in the Jamirdia area of Bhaluka.
A large group of people beat Dipu, 25, to death over accusations of religious insult and later hung his body from a tree, near a thoroughfare, and set the body on fire.
Meanwhile, concerned residents formed a human chain at the Mymensingh Press Club premises on Monday afternoon, demanding a proper investigation, exemplary punishment for those responsible, and improved security in the area.
Different student and labour bodies on Sunday staged demonstrations in Dhaka and elsewhere, demanding justice for victim Dipu Chandra Das.
Central leaders of some garment workers organisations held a protest rally in front of the Pioneer Knit Composite Factory in Bhaluka and said the interim government and factory owners must take responsibility for the gruesome murder of Dipu.
Garment worker leaders Mushrefa Mishu, Joly Talukder, Shabnam Hafiz, Taslima Akther Buty, Satyajit Das and others spoke at the rally demanding exemplary punishment for the killers.
The Dhaka University unit of Jatiyatabadi Chatra Dal, the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, brought out a protest procession from the Teacher-Student Centre on the campus, demanding justice for all mob violence victims, including Dipu and Ayesha, a daughter of a BNP leader who was burnt to death on the late night of December 19 in Lakshmipur.
Jatiya Sramik Shakti, labour wing of National Citizen Party, also held a rally at Shahbagh demanding the immediate arrest of and exemplary punishment for the ‘mob attackers’.
Dipu’s younger brother Apu Das said that Dipu used neither an Android phone nor any social media platforms, while the Rapid Action Battalion said that they found no evidence that Dipu Chandra Das made any derogatory remarks about the Prophet.
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