Pirganj’s Shaikat made incendiary Facebook posts to increase followers: RAB

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) says people from Rangpur’s Pirganj gathered to attack Hindu homes in Majhipara after seeing a post regarding the ‘dishonouring of religion’ on Shaikat Mandal’s Facebook page.

Shaikat made the ‘incendiary religious’ posts on Facebook in a bid to increase his follower count, according to the elite police unit.

The RAB made the remarks at a press conference on Saturday after arresting the 24-year-old Shaikat and another suspect in the Pirganj violence, 36-year-old Rabiul Islam, from Gazipur.

Shaikat urged Rabiul to use the microphone at a local mosque to gather a mob.

“Shaikat wanted to publicise his ‘image’ and increase his Facebook ‘follower’ count by making incendiary posts,” said RAB spokesman Commander Khondker Al Moeen.

In a post to Facebook on Oct 17, Shaikat wrote: "I just heard from the village police that Hindus have attacked and hacked a Muslim to death."

Following the violence in Cumilla around Durga Puja, at least 23 Hindu homes in Pirganj were attacked, vandalised and burnt that night.

People began to gather after seeing Shaikat’s post and he addressed them from atop a mound, RAB said. He and Rabiul fled after agitating the crowd.

Shaikat is an undergraduate student at a local college, while Rabiul is the muezzin at a local mosque.

Previously, law enforcers had said that locals had been agitated by a Facebook post by a Hindu youth that had ‘insulted’ Islam.

Law enforcers detained the Hindu youth and, alongside him, a Muslim youth who had a feud with him.

“The two had a contentious relationship,” said RAB spokesman Al Moeen. “The Hindu youth made a negative comment about Islam on his Facebook account and taunted the Muslim youth about it. Though he later removed it, the Muslim youth saved it and spread it.”

Shaikat was a friend of the Muslim youth and then shared his post on Facebook, said Al Moeen.

The RAB official said Shaikat’s ‘incendiary post’ was responsible for the Pirganj violence.

Asked if Shaikat was involved with any political groups, the RAB official said that no such links had been found.

Shaikat had claimed to be a part of several parties at one point or another, but none had ever given him an organisational position.