A mural of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Khulna Railway Station has been defaced with black ink, drawing attention on Friday afternoon.
Officer-in-Charge of Khulna Sadar Police Station Lokman Hossain said police learned about the incident in the afternoon and launched an investigation.
“All businesses across the road were closed on Friday, making it difficult to determine who defaced the mural and when,” he said.
The murals were painted on the initiative of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) ahead of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's visit to the city. They depict the July uprising, the Sundarbans, the Sixty Dome Mosque and the jute industry, alongside portraits of prominent figures who contributed to the region's art, literature and culture, including Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.
A visit to the site revealed portraits of Fakir Lalon Shah, artist SM Sultan, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, former president Ziaur Rahman and poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt on a wall beside Old Jessore Road. Tagore's was the only portrait defaced with black ink.
Two posters were also put up beside the mural.
One, titled “Opposition to the Establishment of Dhaka University”, featured several statements, including: “There is no place for Tagore, who was hostile to Muslims and East Bengal, in Titumir's Bengal. There is no place for glorifying India.”
Expressing outrage over the incident, KCC Administrator Nazrul Islam Manju said the portraits would help foster free thinking among children and adolescents.
“By defacing the portrait, they have exposed their narrow-mindedness and sick mentality,” he said.
Earlier, on October 10, the face of a Rabindranath Tagore mural in Dhaka was also defaced with black ink. Police detained four people in connection with the incident, including Al Nur Mohammad Ayash, member secretary of the State Dialogue Forum.