Three people including a local Jamaat leader were detained this morning in connection with the killing of a Hindu tailor in Tangail.

Unidentified assailants hacked Nikhil Joardar, 50, to death at his tailoring shop in Dubail area under Gopalpur upazila in broad daylight yesterday.

The detainees are Badsa Miah, Jamaat secretary of Gopalpur municipal unit, Aminul Islam, principal of Alamnagar Madrasa, and local BNP activist Jhantu, reports our Tangail correspondent.

Of them, Aminul sued Nikhil on May 2, 2012 for his "derogatory comments" about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Meanwhile, two separate cases have been filed with Gopalpur Police Station in connection with the murder.  

On Saturday night, Nikhil's wife Arati Joardar filed a murder case against three unidentified assailants while police filed another case under Arms and Explosive Substances Act this morning.

READ More: Machetes strike again: This time, a tailor killed in Tangail

The motive is not yet clear, but the machete attack resembles the recent spate of targeted attacks that saw secular bloggers, writers and people of different faiths and ideologies killed over the last few years.

Two to three assailants, who came on a bike, took part in the killing around 12:30pm yesterday, said police and locals.

In 2012, Nikhil was in jail for several weeks on charges of making derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), police said.

This could be a possible motive behind his murder, police sources said.

Hours after the incident, global terror outfit Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the killing, US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorist activities globally, said in a post.

The authenticity of the claim could not be independently verified.