Brahmanbarhia’s Rasraj Das granted bail

Brahmanbarhia’s Rasraj Das has been granted interim bail in the ICT case over ‘offensive’ statements posted on Facebook.

Brahmanbarhia Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 16 Jan 2017, 10:14 AM
Updated : 17 Jan 2017, 11:29 AM

The District and Sessions Judge Md Ismail Hossain granted Rasraj bail on Monday.

Rasraj is the son of Jagannath Das, who hails from Harinberh village in the Nasirnagar Upazila of Brahmanbarhia.

On Oct 29, the 30-year-old Rasraj was arrested by police on charges of posting a picture that was insulting to Islam.

The next day 15 Hindu temples and over a hundred Hindu houses in Nasirnagar were attacked, looted and vandalised.

Two cases have been filed against the attacks and 1000 to 1200 unknown persons are accused in each case.

On Nov 3, police received a five day remand to question Rasraj. The Senior Judicial Magistrate Court then refused Rasraj bail on Nov 8 and sent him to prison.

A bdnews24.com investigation discovered the involvement of Nasirnagar Upazila’s Haripur Union Parishad Chairman Atiqur Rahman Ankhi in the communal attacks. Ankhi was arrested in Dhaka on Jan 5.

Police had previously arrested Ankhi’s personal assistant Uttam Kumar Das, 25, and Union Parishad Secretary Monorajan Debnath, 40, in connection with the incident.

Fourteen to fifteen truckloads of people from Haripur Union were involved in the attack on the Nasirnagar Hindu community.

Chairman Ankhi is accused of arranging and paying for the attackers and the trucks. Over 100 suspects have been arrested by police in connection with the incident.

Ashutosh Das, another person suspected of posting ‘offensive’ pictures on Facebook, surrendered on Jan 10.

The next day he deposed before the court of Brahmanbarhia Additional Chief Justive Md Shafiqul Islam.

The contents of the deposition is not yet known.