Bangladesh Lynching Case: Arrests Rise to 12
Two more held in killing of Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das; RAB finds no blasphemy evidence
- Two additional arrests made in Bangladesh lynching case
- Total accused held rises to 12, police and RAB confirm
- RAB says no evidence of blasphemous social media post
- Interim govt condemns attack, vows strict action
GG News Bureau
Dhaka, 22nd Dec: Two more persons were arrested on Sunday in connection with the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh, taking the total number of arrests in the case to 12, according to local media reports.
Citing police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) sources, The Daily Star reported that the arrests were linked to the brutal killing of Dipu Chandra Das, a 25-year-old garment factory worker, in Bhaluka area of Mymensingh district.
Das was lynched to death by a mob on Thursday over alleged blasphemy. According to police, he was first beaten outside the garment factory, later hanged from a tree, and his body was left by the roadside along the Dhaka–Mymensingh highway before being set on fire. The body was recovered and sent to Mymensingh Medical College morgue for autopsy.
The victim’s brother, Apu Chandra Das, lodged a case at the Bhaluka Police Station on Friday, naming 140–150 unidentified persons as accused.
Initial allegations claimed that Das had made a social media post hurting religious sentiments. However, RAB officials have contradicted this narrative. Md Samsuzzaman, Company Commander of RAB-14 in Mymensingh, told The Daily Star that investigators found no evidence of any blasphemous post.
“No evidence has been found that the man posted anything on social media hurting religious sentiments. Local residents and factory workers also could not point to any such act,” Samsuzzaman said, adding that no one claimed to have personally heard or seen Das make any offensive remarks.
He said that when the situation turned volatile, Das was forcibly pushed out of the factory premises in an attempt to protect the facility. “Everyone is now saying they did not personally hear him say anything of that sort,” the RAB official added.
The interim government of Bangladesh condemned the lynching on Friday, stating that there is no space for mob violence in the new Bangladesh. “The perpetrators of this heinous crime will not be spared,” the government said in a statement.
The incident comes amid growing concern over minority safety in Bangladesh. The Hindu community has reported a series of anti-minority incidents across the country following the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year, triggering renewed scrutiny of law and order and communal harmony in the country.
