Seven suspects in the lynching of a Hindu youth in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh have been arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the premier counterterrorism unit of that country.
"Those arrested are Md. Limon Sarkar (19), Md. Tarek Hossain (19), Md. Manik Mia (20), Ershad Ali (39), Nijum Uddin (20), Alomgir Hossain (38) and Md. Miraj Hossain Akon (46). Rapid Action Battalion-14 said the arrests were made during operations carried out at multiple locations," Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser to the interim government, said in a statement Saturday.
Since Dipu Chandra Das’ murder the RAB had launched a probe and raided several places in and around Mymensingh, from where the suspects were arrested.
Das was lynched on Thursday, a day of violence and deep unrest in the neighbouring country, where cultural organisations and media offices also came under attack.
Citing local and eyewitness accounts, Bangladeshi news outlet Barta Bazar reported that Dipu was accused of making derogatory comments about Islam and Prophet Muhammad during an event at a factory marking World Arabic Language Day.
The 25-year-old Das worked as a factory labourer in Mymensingh, reported NDTV. He was employed at the Pioneer Knit Composite Factory in the Square Masterbari area.
The allegations, eyewitnesses said, spread quickly inside the factory and nearby areas, leading to tension. An angry mob later assaulted Das, beating him severely. He reportedly died on the spot.
Inspector (Investigation) of Bhaluka Model police station, Abdul Malek, said that after the killing, the mob left Das’s body on the side of the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway and set it on fire, bringing traffic on both sides to a halt.
“We saw it on Facebook. Then my uncle came after half an hour later and told me they took my son...and they tied him to a tree,” Dipu Chandra Das’s father, Ravilal Das, told NDTV.
The father said the mob later poured kerosene on his son and set him on fire. “His burned body was left outside. They tied the burned torso and head outside together. It was horrible,” he said.
In a statement issued on Friday, Bangladesh’s interim government had condemned the lynching. “There is no space for such violence in the new Bangladesh. The perpetrators of this heinous crime will not be spared,” the statement said.
However, Ravilal Das said the family has received no direct assurance. “No one from the government has given any kind of assurance. No one said anything,” he told NDTV.
The killing drew reactions from across the border as well. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra condemned the incident as a “heinous crime against humanity”.
In a post on X, she said, “The news of the brutal murder of Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das by a mob in Bangladesh is extremely disturbing. In any civilised society, discrimination, violence, and murder based on religion, caste, or identity are crimes against humanity.”