Police identify two vandals of Bangabandhu statue from CCTV footage in Kushtia

Police have identified from CCTV footage two men who defaced a statue of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under the cover of night in Kushtia amid a clamour from Islamic groups to stop building statues of the Father of the Nation.

The men, clad in Panjabis and skull caps, were seen walking towards the under-construction statue before climbing up a ladder and vandalising it at around 2 am Saturday.

The authorities will soon take legal action against the culprits, Kushtia Police Superintendent SM Tanvir Arafat told reporters on Sunday.

The Kushtia Municipality took the initiative to build three statues of Bangabandhu at the site. Work on the statue targeted by the vandals was almost complete before the incident.

“We're almost done with the construction of one of Bangabandhu’s statues. Suddenly, the vandals broke its right hand, damaged the entirety of the face and parts of the its left hand at night,” Robiul Islam, executive engineer of Kushtia Municipality, told bdnews24.com.

The right hand, face and parts of the left hand of the statue, which is under construction at a five-road intersection in Kushtia Municipality, were damaged by the miscreants late Friday.

Different groups and organisations expressed grievances over the matter after it came to their notice on Saturday morning.