Missing for 3 days, body of temple caretaker in Bangladesh found hanging from tree

A temple caretaker who had been missing for three days was found dead in a hilly area in Bangladesh's Sadar Upazila on Wednesday, Daily Sun reported citing police.

The victim, identified as Nayan Das, 35, was from Satkania and worked at the Pulishshora Ghona Naag Panchami Temple in Khurushkhul Union.

This is the first reported incident of a Hindu killing in Bangladesh after general elections were held earlier this year. The country has witnessed several killings of Hindus since the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

According to police and local sources, a group of unidentified individuals allegedly called Nayan out of his residence in the Khurushkul area around 9 pm on Sunday. He went missing soon after. Family members filed a general diary with Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model Police Station on Monday night after failing to locate him.

Locals and Nayan’s colleagues began searching for him in the surrounding areas the following day. On Wednesday afternoon, a group of 30 to 35 people discovered his body hanging from a tree in a remote hilly area east of the temple and immediately informed police.

Police recovered the body, which had a scarf wrapped around the neck, and sent it to Cox’s Bazar General Hospital morgue for an autopsy.

Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Samiuddin of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model Police Station said the postmortem report would determine whether the death was a murder or suicide. “Police are working to uncover the mystery behind the incident,” he said.

However, a temple associate, requesting anonymity, alleged that Nayan might have been killed and later hanged, claiming there were injury marks on his neck.

Jony Dhar, general secretary of the Cox’s Bazar Puja Udjapan Parishad, said, citing the family, that Nayan had left home on April 19 after being called by unidentified individuals and never returned.

Police said the investigation is ongoing.

- Ends