Hindu temple caretaker in Bangladesh found hanging from tree, probe under way

A Hindu temple caretaker in southeastern Bangladesh was found dead three days after he went missing, with his body discovered hanging from a tree in a hilly area, police and local residents said.Nayan Sadhu, 40, a resident of the Dohazari area under Sthania Upazila in Chhattogram district, worked as a caretaker-cum-priest at a Shivakali temple in Khurushkul union under Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila, according to the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC).According to police, two unidentified men took Nayan with them on the evening of April 19. His body was recovered three days later from the outskirts of the village.“We recovered the body when it had started getting decomposed,” the Kaler Kantha newspaper said, quoting an unnamed police official, as cited by PTI.Police said they are not yet certain whether the case is a murder or suicide. The body has been sent for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. An investigation was launched after the victim’s wife filed a missing person’s report on April 19.The Bangladesh Puja Celebration Council’s Cox’s Bazar unit general secretary Jony Dhar said the recovery of the body three days after Nayan went missing indicated that he was murdered.In a statement, the council demanded stern punitive action against the perpetrators of his murder.“The Unity Council strongly condemns the incident and demands immediate arrest and exemplary punishment against the perpetrators,” the forum said in the statement.“We just cannot understand what could be the motive of killing an ordinary caretaker of a relatively small temple in a remote area,” BHBCUC senior member Kajal Debnath told PTI.Earlier, on April 9, the council said there had been 133 incidents of communal violence in Bangladesh between January 1 and March 31 this year.