Tangail police detain three people for questioning over Hindu tailor’s murder

Police in Tangail say they have detained three persons over Saturday’s murder of a Hindu tailor in an attack reportedly claimed by the Islamic State.

Two cases have been initiated over the murder. The victim’s family filed a case over the killing while local police started another over bombs seized from a bag left by the assailants.

Fifty-year-old Nikhil Chandra Joardar was hacked to death in front of his shop in Gopalpur Upazila by motorcycle-borne assailants.

He was killed in a manner similar to that of several bloggers, rights activists and university teachers murdered in Bangladesh recently — machete-wielding attackers targeting the head to ensure immediate death.

Tangail’s Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Aslam Khan said that they have detained three people, including a local Jamaat-e-Islami leader, for questioning them over the killing.

Nikhil served three months in jail in a case over hurting religious sensitivities. He was released as the plaintiff one Aminul Islam dropped the charges against him.

Police official Khan said that Islam is among those picked by police to question over the killing. “Aminul Islam, Gopalpur Jamaat General Secretary Badsha and a local BNP activist Jhhantu have been detained early morning Sunday.”

The victim’s family has filed a case over the murder late on Saturday.

Gopalpur police OC Muhammad Abdul Jalil said that Nikhil’s wife Arati Rani filed a case with them against six unidentified men.

Meanwhile, police initiated another case over bombs found inside a bag left by the assailants.

Police said that Nikhil’s murder bore resemblance to the targeted killings by machete-wielding suspected Islamists in recent months.

Witnesses said three men, estimated to be in their 20s, arrived at Nikhil’s shop on a motorcycle. They asked him to come outside saying that they need to talk.

As soon as Nikhil came out, the assailants took out machetes and hacked him mercilessly. They fled after making sure he had died.

Md Harun Mia, who witnessed the incident, said that one of attackers waved a bloody machete threatening to kill him when he was approaching to the spot noticing a scuffle.

The assailants left behind a bag, in which police found five crude bombs.

The attack on Nikhil comes days after an LGBT rights activist and his friend were killed in a Dhaka apartment and a Rajshahi University professor was murdered in the same way—hacked by machetes targeting the head.

Bangladesh has seen a surge in attacks since early last year in which secular writers, a publisher, bloggers, online activists, minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have been targeted.

The Islamic State and a group affiliated to al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for the killings, including the one on Saturday in Tangail, according to monitoring group SITE Intelligence. 

Police, however, said that it was too early to confirm that radicals were behind Nikhil’s murder.

“Two years ago, Nikhil helped his niece Shwarna to get a divorce. Shwarna’s former husband Rudra had meted out life threats to their family since then,” said local police OC Jalil.