Eyewitness says no arrest made in Dhaka ISKCON temple vandalisation case, seeks 'help' over threats
Mar 19, 2022
Dhaka [Bangladesh], March 19 : Rasmani Keshavdas, an eyewitness to the attack on ISKCON Radhakanta temple in Dhaka, has said that no arrests have been made in the case so far and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina "to help them".
In an interview with ANI, Keshavdas said a man Haji Shafiullah had been threatening them for years to leave the temple.
"He had offered us money too. One of his men, Ishraf Sufi had given us life threats. That day these two, along with 500-600 people, vandalised the temple's wall. Two of our people were hit when they tried to stop the mob. They behaved the same even before Police," Keshavdas said.
He said the police supported them and two people are hospitalised. He also said that goons were threatening to kill them if someone came to meet them.
"They didn't want to listen to us. They asked us to leave the temple but it's ours. No arrests yet. Two of our people hospitalised, their condition is slightly better. Goons are still threatening us that they'll kill us if someone meets us," he said.
Keshavdas said they had been given "a little security" but were still scared.
"We were given a little security after making a police complaint. Right now, 10 police personnel are deployed here. We are still scared, though. Through you, we request your Government to help us. Our PM is also trying to help us. We request both PMs to help us," he said.
A mob of over 200 people attacked devotees and vandalized the ISKCON Radhakanta Temple in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Thursday.
A temple official said on Friday that the mob took away idols and injured several devotees,
Amani Krishna Das, the public relations officer of ISKCON temple, told ANI: "More than 200 terrorists led by Haji Shafiullah attacked, vandalized and looted the ISKCON Radhakanta temple at 222, Lal Mohan Saha Street in Wari. The miscreants attempted to break the security wall of the temple," Das said.
The devotees who were beaten up by the mob were identified as Sumantra Chandra Shravan, Nihar Haldar, Rajiv Bhadram, he said.
This incident comes a few months after a series of attacks on minority religious places in Bangladesh last October.
An ISKCON temple in Noakhali city was vandalised in October last year.
