Hours after scribe killing, Hindu grocer hacked to death in Bangladesh

DHAKA: Hours after a Hindu journalist was shot dead in Bangladesh’s Jessore district, a 40-year-old grocery store owner from the minority community was hacked to death in Narsingdi district on Monday night, making him the sixth to be killed in recent weeks, reports Ahsan Tasnim.Moni Chakraborty was attacked and killed at Charsindhur Bazar around 11 pm on Monday, police said. Around 5.45 pm in Kapalia Bazar in Jessore district, Rana Pratap (45), a businessman and acting editor of daily BD Khabar, was shot dead. Police said Moni was returning home after closing his shop on Monday night when attackers struck him with a sharp weapon. He collapsed on the spot, they said, adding locals rushed him to Palash upazila health complex, where doctors declared him dead. Meanwhile, a day after authorities linked Rana to extremist groups, the Muhammed Yunusled interim govt on Tuesday said his killing of “cannot be linked to religion or journalism”, claiming that police have confirmed the victim was an accused in a murder case.Chief adviser’s senior assistant press secretary Foyez Ahammad said following Rana’s killing, “attempts were made in various places to spread propaganda by using the religious identity of the individual and claiming that a journalist was killed”.Traders from Charsindur Bazar formed a human chain under the banner of the local market association, calling for the immediate identification and arrest of those responsible for the killing. “Moni was well regarded in the area and had no known disputes. He was such a good person that it's beyond imagination that he could have had any enemies,” Moni’s close friend Rajendra Chohri said.The killing marks the latest in a spate of violent incidents against Hindu community members in the days following the death of India baiter and Inqilab Moncho spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi on Dec 18, six days after he was shot in Dhaka. Besides the killings, houses of minorities, particularly Hindus, have been targeted in Chittagong and Pirojpur districts.Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad expressed concern over the intensity of communal violence, noting that at least 51 incidents of violence have occurred since Dec. “Of these, 10 were murders, four were arrestedon false charges of religious insult and Indian agents , one was attempted rape, and three were tortured,” it said.