Awami League men try to occupy Hindu
Staff Correspondent
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Locally influential persons and Awami League activists attacked some Hindu families and damaged the idol in a temple at Bhusir Goli on
Local people alleged that the Sutrapur police were present at the scene when the attackers were assaulting the residents of the neighbouring houses and damaging the idol of the temple, but they acted as mere spectators.
Witnesses said a gang of local Awami League activists, equipped with firearms, rushed to the scene and asked the dwellers to leave the place, claiming that they were the owners of the land.
They also damaged an idol and fired gunshots in the air, creating panic in the dwellers.
When the local people put up a determined resistance and started to chase them, the attackers fled the scene, firing gunshots at random, and took shelter in the Sutrapur police station.
The angry people gathered in front of the police station and staged a demonstration, demanding immediate arrest of the attackers.
They also said that they have been living in the area for more than 50 years but an influential Awami League leader, with the help of the police, evicted four Hindu families on March 30. The land-grabbers are now trying to forcibly occupy the land by evicting 15 more Hindu families from their houses.
Asad Mahmud, son of late Mahmud Ali, told New Age, ‘We are the owners of 32 kathas of land which my father bought from one Amir Ali Jamal, but the Hindu families are trying to grab the land.’
‘Later we got the court’s verdict in our favour and erected a boundary wall in March, but we are yet to get the land as some Hindu families continue to illegally occupy the land,’ Asad claimed.
On the other hand, some locals said the land is owned by one Rup Babu who donated it to the temple and left the country after partition of the sub-continent. The Hindu residents have been living around the temple for years.
Locals alleged that Asad is a paternal cousin of Awami League 80 Ward Unit’s president, Nizam Uddin Nizam, and all the attackers were activists of the Awami League and its front organisations.
Some local people alleged that the same gang went to the temple on
April 28 and injured 10 persons in a bid to occupy the land.
A case was filed in this connection accusing 30 people on April 29, but police has not arrested anyone in this connection.
A large contingent of police and members of the Rapid Action Battalion have been deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident.
The officer-in-charge of Sutrapur police station, Tofazzal Hossain, told New Age, ‘Those who are occupying the land have no legal documents, and the real owner of the land is Asad Mahmud.’
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