Dhaka, Jan 1 (.) A middle-aged Hindu businessman was hacked with sharp weapons and doused with petrol and set on fire by assailants in Damudya of Shariatpur in Bangladesh. However, he managed to save himself by jumping into a nearby pond, and passers-by rushed to his aid hearing his screams.
The incident took place near Keurbhanga Bazar in Damudya’s Kaneshwar union at around 9:30 pm on Wednesday. Shariatpur is part of Dhaka division, and located 108 km south of capital Dhaka.
The injured Hindu businessman, identified as Khokon Chandra Das (50), has been admitted to a Dhaka hospital for better treatment, Prothom Alo reported.
According to Damudya police station sources, Khokon Chandra Das, son of Paresh Chandra Das, a resident of Tilei village of Ward No. 3 of Kaneshwar Union, has a small shop dealing in medicine and mobile banking in Keurbhanga market.
He was returning home in a CNG-powered auto-rickshaw after closing the shop on Wednesday night and had the money from the day’s sale with him. Miscreants stopped his auto-rickshaw near Keurbhanga Bazar on Damudya-Shariatpur road and beat him up. At one point he was hacked and injured. Then petrol was poured on his head and set on fire.
Khokon Chandra Das jumped into a pond on the side of the road to escape from the assailants. The attackers fled when passersby rushed to his aid hearing his screams. Later locals rescued him and took him to Shariatpur Sadar Hospital around 10 pm. After giving first aid at the emergency department there, his condition deteriorated and he was sent to Dhaka at night.
Seema Das, wife of injured Khokon Das, told Prothom Alo, “My husband closes the shop every night and returns home with the money from the whole day’s sale. Miscreants attacked him on Wednesday night. He recognized both of the attackers, which led them to try and kill him, by setting him on fire with petrol on his head and face. We have no enemies in the area. There is no dispute with anyone about any matter. We don’t understand why the assailants suddenly targeted and attacked my husband.”
Damudya Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Rabiul Haque said that two of the attackers have been identified. “Efforts are on to arrest them. Attempts are being made to identify who else is involved in this incident,” they said.
The incident comes close on the heels of the brutal lynching of a Hindu factory worker Dipu Chandra Das, 25, by a mob in Mymensingh, on the allegations of blasphemy on December 18. India has condemned the incident and asked Bangladesh’s interim government to bring the perpetrators to book.
On December 24, another Hindu youth, Amrit Mondal, 29, was lynched by a mob in the Pangsha area of Rajbari district. The Interim government has claimed the incident was not communal but rather a result of criminal activity and extortion.
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