Hindu man jumps into canal to escape mob in Bangladesh, drowns

DHAKA: Violence against Hindus continued in Bangladesh, with another man from the minority community drowning after he jumped into a pond while trying to escape a mob that accused him of theft in Naogaon district on Tuesday, a day after two killings in Narsingdi and Jessore.Mithun Sarkar (25) was chased by a group of locals on suspicion of being a thief, police said, adding there is no evidence yet to connect him to a theft in the area. They said if a formal complaint is filed, appropriate legal action will be taken following an investigation. “The incident occurred around 1 pm on Tuesday at Hat Chakgauri market in Mahadevpur. Mithun jumped into a pond adjacent to the market. He went missing shortly afterward. Nearly four hours later, around 4 pm, members of the Fire Service recovered his body,” a police official said.Mithun has become the seventh Hindu to die since Dec, when Dipu Chandra Das was lynched on charges of blasphemy in Mymensingh amid violence in Bangladesh on the 18th of that month following the death of India-baiter and Islamic radical leader Sharif Osman Hadi, six days after he was shot in Dhaka.