The committee formed by the Bhola district administration to investigate the clash between police and locals ,which left four people dead and hundreds injured, has submitted its report to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mohammad Masud Alam Siddiqui.
The three-member probe body, led by Local Government Division Deputy Director Mamudur Rahman, submitted the report to the DC on Saturday.
"Although the report was supposed to be submitted within three days on Thursday, we sought two more days from the deputy commissioner to complete the work," Mamudur said.
He, however, did not disclose the findings of the probe report.
The district administration formed the probe body on October 21 while police headquarters, on the same day, formed another seven-member committee, led by Barisal range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Shafiqul Islam, to look into the incident.
File photo: Locals carry an injured person after a clash between villagers and police over an unverified Facebook post in Borhanuddin upazila of Bhola on Sunday, October 20, 2019 | Dhaka Tribune
Meanwhile, each of the four deceased families was given Tk5 lakh in cash as assistance on Saturday afternoon.
Ali Azam Mukul, ruling Awami League lawmaker of Borhanuddin constituency, handed over the amount to the relatives of the deceased at his residence in Borhanuddin town on behalf of Tofail Ahmed, another ruling party lawmaker of the neighbouring constituency in Bhola.
Ali Azam said they would also give assistance to the people who got injured in the clash.
What happened in Bhola?
On October 20, casualties occurred in the district's Borhanuddin upazila, where police opened fire to disperse a mob demanding punishment for a local Hindu youth named Biplob Chandra Baidya alias Shuvo, who they believed was responsible for spreading offensive messages against Islam on Facebook Messenger.
Biplob had gone to Borhanuddin police station to file a general diary, on the day before the clash, saying his Facebook account had been hacked.
Later, police found that hackers had sent messages from Biplob’s account to several people on his friend list, asking them to tell him to pay money if he wanted his account back.
Police and locals said messages containing derogatory remarks about Allah and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) were sent to several individuals on Facebook from Biplob’s account, which fuelled a protest and led to the deadly clash between a mob of protesters and the law enforcement members.
File photo: Locals carry an injured person after a clash between villagers and police over an unverified Facebook post in Borhanuddin upazila of Bhola on Sunday, October 20, 2019 | Dhaka TribuneOn the evening of that day the clash occurred, Borhanuddin police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Delwar Hossain filed a case against Biplob, and seven to eight unnamed others under the Digital Security Act.
Police also filed a case against 5,000 unnamed people over the attack on police during the clash.
In another development, a group of zealots carried out attacks on the Hindu community in Bhawal Bari area located nearby Borhanuddin Upazila Health Complex on October 20 in the afternoon. They claimed these attacks were carried out in retaliation to the clash.
They vandalized a temple, along with eight to nine houses of the Hindu community, and torched two of their houses.
On October 22, Satya Prasad Das, President of the temple Bhawal Bari Sri Sri Goura Nitai Asram temple, filed a case against 400-500 unnamed people with Borhanuddin police station in this connection.