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Published : 13 Jan 2026, 03:49 PM
Police have arrested six more people over incidents in which the doors of several Hindu homes were locked from outside before the buildings were set on fire in Chattogram’s Raozan.
Chattogram Range Deputy Inspector General Ahsan Habib Palash formally announced the development on Tuesday, saying the suspects were arrested from different parts of the district.
The arrestees are Md Omar Faruk, Md Kabir Hossain, Kartik De, Biplob Barua, Md Lokman and Md Parvez.
Authorities recovered four provocative banners, two containers of kerosene, one kerosene bottle, three empty plastic bags, a mobile phone, a CNG-powered autorickshaw, and a motorcycle from the suspects.
DIG Ahsan Habib said the latest arrests were based on evidence from Monir Hossain, who was held in Rangamati on Jan 2.
The total number of suspects in the attacks on Hindu homes now stands at seven.
Without naming any group, the officer said everyone involved in the attacks was an “active” leader or worker of a banned organisation.
After Monir’s arrest, district police said several arson incidents had taken place late at night in the Raozan and Rangunia Thana areas.
From each crime scene, a specific type of provocative banner was recovered. “The banners carried incendiary messages aimed at disrupting communal harmony, along with names of individuals and multiple mobile numbers,” police added.
Monir is a suspect in four cases related to theft and drugs. He was also a convict in a theft case.
In the last week of December, police had announced a reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonists involved in a series of attacks on Hindu houses.
One of the attacks occurred on Dec 23 at the house of Sukh Sheel, an expatriate living in Qatar. His sister and her husband lived in the house along with their family. From the scene, police seized banners containing names and mobile numbers of political personalities and government officials.
A similar arson attack was reported in the Raozan municipality on the morning of Dec 20 at the houses of Bimal Talukder and Rubel Das. The residents of the houses found themselves locked inside when they tried to escape after the houses were set on fire. White cloth was used to tie doors of the houses. Kerosene-soaked cloth was found in the courtyards of the houses, witnesses said.
On Dec 19, similar arson attacks were conducted on the houses of Sadhan Barua, Sona Pal and Kamini Mohon Pal in the municipality.
On Dec 26, a man named Morshedul Alam, 55, was reportedly caught red-handed as he was trying to set a three-wheeler laden with clothes on fire at Gohira Bazar in Raozan.
