Dhaka (Rajeev Sharma): Tensions have risen in southeastern Bangladesh after Nayan Sadhu, a 40-year-old Hindu temple caretaker and priest, was found hanging from a tree on Saturday, three days after he went missing. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) has termed the incident a murder and demanded immediate government intervention. Sadhu, who served at a Shivakali temple in the Khurushkul union of Cox’s Bazar, was reportedly led away by two unidentified men on the evening of April 19.
Local police recovered the body in a decomposed state from a hilly area on the outskirts of the village. While authorities have sent the remains for an autopsy to determine the official cause of death, minority leaders have expressed disbelief over the motive, noting that Sadhu was an “ordinary caretaker” of a remote, small temple. An investigation was initially triggered by a missing person’s report filed by the deceased’s wife earlier in the week.
The discovery follows the suspicious death of another Hindu official on Sunday. Police in eastern Cumilla detained four suspects following the mysterious death of 35-year-old Bullet Bairagi, an assistant revenue officer in the Customs department. Bairagi’s body was discovered by the side of the Dhaka-Chattagram road on Saturday. The Rapid Action Battalion confirmed the arrests following a series of raids, while Bairagi’s family maintains he was murdered. These back-to-back incidents have prompted the BHBCUC to call for “exemplary punishment” for perpetrators targeting the minority community.
According to the 2022 Population and Housing Census conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the religious composition of the country shows that Muslims make up 91.04% of the population, while Hindus account for 7.95%. Other groups include Buddhists at 0.61% and Christians at 0.30%. The Hindu population has seen a steady decline as a percentage of the total population over recent decades, dropping from 13.5% in 1974. Rights organizations frequently cite safety concerns and land disputes as primary drivers for the migration of minority groups from the region.
