B'baria-style plot behind Rangpur arson

Home Minster Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said there might be a conspiracy behind the Thakurpara arson attack on the Hindu community.

"The Rangpur incident is the recurrence of Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar attack. There might a plot behind it," UNB quoted him as saying.

He made the comments hours after the arrest of Titu Chandra Roy over his alleged Facebook post that triggered Friday's mayhem in the village in Rangpur.

At least 30 Hindu houses were looted, vandalised and torched by zealots following the post that "hurt religious sentiments of the Muslims". A man was killed and 20 others were injured after police fired rubber bullets and teargas shells to restore law and order.

Titu's family keeps saying that he is innocent and is being framed.

Asaduzzaman was talking to reporters at the capital's Ramna Police Convention Centre after joining a reception accorded to the police members who put up the first resistance against Pakistani occupation forces at Rajarbagh on March 26, 1971.

On October 30, 2016, religious bigots vandalised Hindu houses and temples in five villages of Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria following a rumour that a Facebook post demeaned the Holy Kaaba.

Asaduzzaman said an investigation was underway to find out the reason behind Friday's mayhem and to identify the attackers.

Replying to a question, he said police could not prevent the incident as the number of attackers was much higher than that of the law enforcers.  "Several thousand people launched the attack together."

Earlier in the day, the minister visited Thakurpara village in Rangpur.

Talking to reporters there, he said the law enforcers arrested Titu from Nilphamari.

He said police carried out their duties accordingly and the culprits would be brought to justice. "Bangabandhu's Bangladesh is a non-communal country and no one can carry out conspiracies here."

On Saturday morning, police filed a case against more than 2,000 people over the clash. The previous night, they detained 36 people from Gangachhara and Kotwali area.

TITU'S ARREST

Police arrested Titu from one of his relative's house in Chirviza Golna village in Nilphamari's Jaldhaka upazila around 11:00pm on Monday, reports our correspondent in the district.

Later, he was brought to Rangpur, said Mostafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Jaldhaka Police Station Mostafizur Rahman

Police did not say what the charges against the arrestee were. Asked, they said they would brief about the arrest today.

Earlier, the law enforcers said their primary investigation had found that the Facebook post "demeaning Islam" was uploaded from somewhere in Rangpur's Gangachhara from the account of one Md Titu on October 28.

They did not give any further details of the matter.

Meanwhile, talking to our Rangpur correspondent,

Ziton Bala, Titu's mother, and locals said Titu could not read and write and that they did not believe that he could create or upload the post. 

They also said Titu lived in Narayanganj and he never went to that village in the last four to five years.

Meanwhile, the people of the Hindu community in the Rangpur village were yet to overcome the Friday's shock. They were staying put. This, however, was affecting them hard as most of them are day labourers.

Police were guarding the village around the clock.

People of nearby villages cooked food and fed the affected ones at Brahmanpara Government Primary School premises.