Staff Reporter :Two officials of Indian High Commission on Wednesday met the family members of Hindu priest Anando Gopal Ganguli who was hacked to death by the militants in the country’s northwestern district of Jhenaidah on Tuesday.Within six hours of the killing, monitoring group SITE Intelligence, reported that Middle East-based Islamic State has claimed the murder.The Indian delegation, comprising First Secretary [Political and Information] Rajesh Wikhi and First Secretary [Consular] Ramakanta Gupta visited the killing spot at Mohishavagar area of Sonakhali village under Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila around 11:00am. They talked to the family members of slain priest during their visit. Family members of slain priest, including wife Shefali Ganguli, daughters Meena Ganguli and Archana Ganguli, broke down in tears when two Indian High Commission officials met them.Rajesh Wikhi and Ramakanta Gupta asked them to keep patience and assured them to stay with the bereaved family members. Besides, the administrative and police officials assured them to treat the matter with high importance.Superintendent of Police in Jhenaidah Altaf Hossain, Assistant Superintendent of Police Gopinath Kanjilal, Officer-in-Charge of Sadar Police Station Hasan Hafizur Rahman, Central Vice-President of Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad Kanok Kanti Das, among others, were present at that time.Ananda Gopal Ganguli, 69, was chopped and slaughtered to death by miscreants while he was heading to a temple for worship on Tuesday morning. The assailants slit the elderly man’s throat. The police however could not yet nab anyone in connection with the priest murder though 36 hours have elapsed in the meantime. A case was filed with the Sadar Police Station in this connection, but police refused to divulge more information about the incident. Jhenaidah SP Altaf Hossain said: “The police are conducting operation to nab the killers. Hope, they will be netted soon.””We suspect that it could be a militant attack. The victim was attacked on Tuesday morning by three men, who came on a motorcycle. Ganguly was on his bicycle, when the assailants first hit him on his head with a stick before slaughtering him,” ASP [Sadar Circle] Gopinath Kanjilal said.A Buddhist monk was killed inside a monastery in the hill tract district of Bandarban earlier on May 14. In January, homeopath physician Samir Ali was knifed to death by miscreants inside his chamber in Jhenaidah. The local Christian community claimed then that Ali preached Christianity after his conversion and that’s why the militants killed him. The IS reportedly claimed responsibility for the killing.Three days ago, a 60-year-old Christian man in the northern district of Natore was hacked to death inside his shop in a Christian neighbourhood. IS has reportedly claimed the killing.In the northern district of Panchagarh, a head priest of a temple was hacked to death. Three assailants on a motorcycle armed with guns and sharp weapons took part in the killing in February this year.A Liberation War veteran, who had converted into Christianity, was killed after three men hacked him with sharp weapons before fleeing on a motorcycle in the northern district of Kurigram on March 22.In April this year, a Hindu tailor, who had been in jail in a case of hurting religious sensitivities, was murdered in Tangail in a similar way- three assailants using sharp weapons. Besides, two people were injured when shots were fired and bombs were hurled at a temple in the northern district in Dinajpur on December 10 last year.Apart from above incidents, the miscreants conducted several other attacks in different parts of the country in the last one and half year.
