200 accused in case over murder of Kushtia ‘shrine leader’

“The police took us the station at night and made us file the case,” says a brother of the murdered Sufi leader

A case has been filed over the murder of Shamim Reza aka Jahangir, the leader of a Sufi shrine in Kushtia’s Daulatpur who was beaten and stabbed to death over allegations of blasphemy.

Around 11pm on Monday, Shamim’s brother Fazlur Rahman filed a murder case with Daulatpur Police Station as the plaintiff. Two of his other brothers were present at the time, said Arifur Rahman, chief (OC) of the police station.

"Four named individuals and 200 unidentified people have been accused in the case. Rajib Dafadar, a carpenter from Philipnagar village, has been named as the prime suspect in the case."

Previously, the family had said they would not file a case over the incident. On Monday, two days after the killing, Shamim's elder brother Fazlur Rahman had said: “In the current reality, we have sat together and decided that we will not file a case for Shamim’s murder.”

When asked why he had changed his decision within a few hours, Fazlur said: “As a family, we had decided not to file a case. But the police took us to the station at night and made us file the case.”

Hundreds of people attacked, vandalised and set fire to the “Shamim Baba’s Darbar Sharif” in Philipnagar, southwest of Philipnagar Union, on Saturday afternoon over allegations of blasphemy. Shamim was beaten and hacked to death. Three other devotees -- Mohan Ali, Jamirun and Zubair -- were seriously injured in the attack. They are currently undergoing treatment.

A tense, gloomy atmosphere has descended on the area since the attack. The autopsy of the body was completed on Sunday afternoon and it was handed over to the family. Shamim was buried at the local Philipnagar graveyard after Asr prayers under the supervision of law enforcers.

The tension in the air persisted into Monday. Meanwhile, OC Arifur said that none of the accused had been arrested as of Tuesday morning.

He said, “A police operation has been launched to arrest the accused. The situation in the area remains terse. Additional police have been deployed to avoid unrest.”