Bangladesh: Hindu man’s body found hanging from tree, minority group demands strong action

A Hindu temple caretaker was found dead in southeastern Bangladesh days after going missing. Minority groups suspect foul play and demand justice, while police await autopsy results to determine whether it was murder or suicide

Dhaka: A Hindu temple caretaker was found hanging from a tree three days after he went missing from his home in southeastern Bangladesh, a minority group said and demanded stern action against the perpetrators.

Nayan Sadhu, the 40-year-old resident of Dohazari area under Sthania Upazila of Chhattogram district, was serving as a caretaker-cum-priest at a Shivakali temple in Khurushkul union in Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) said late on Saturday.

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Two unidentified men took Nayan with them late on the evening of April 19, and three days later, his body was found hanging from a tree in a hilly area on the outskirts of the village, according to the police and residents in the Cox’s Bazar neighbourhood.

“We recovered the body when it had started getting decomposed,” the Kaler Kantha newspaper said, quoting an unnamed police official. The police are yet not sure if it was a case of murder or suicide, he said.

In a statement, the council demanded stern punitive action against the perpetrators of his murder. “The Unity Council strongly condemns the incident and demands immediate arrest and exemplary punishment against the perpetrators,” the forum said in the statement.

“We just cannot understand what could be the motive of killing an ordinary caretaker of a relatively small temple in a remote area,” BHBCUC senior member Kajal Debnath said. Bangladesh Puja Celebration Council’s Cox’s Bazar unit general secretary Jony Dhar said the body was recovered three days after Nayan went missing, indicating that he was murdered.

Police said the body has been sent for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of the death. An investigation was launched following the missing person’s report filed by the deceased’s wife on April 19. Earlier on April 9, the council said there have been 133 incidents of communal violence between January 1 and March 31 this year in Bangladesh.