The Shah Sufi Fasih Paglar Mazar was attacked and vandalized in Porabari area of Gazipur on Friday afternoon.
Around a hundred people came to the shrine on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway around 3:00pm and carried out the attack.
The shrine's boundary walls, the main building, and other structures were demolished and torched.
The vandalism continued for an hour.
Locals said that Fasih Pagla, who lived in a small hut beside the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, had a shrine established in his memory after his death. Devotees from across the country used to bring pigeons, goats, chickens, and even cows to the shrine for slaughter and cooking as offerings.
Travelers passing by the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway would often donate money around the shrine, which was collected by the shrine's caretakers and deposited into donation boxes, they added.
The shrine was established in the 1980s near the Pora Bari market (to the south).
The shrine complex includes a Hafizia madrasa and orphanage, as well as Fasih Uddin High School, Fasih Uddin Dakhil Madrasa, and a mosque.
The mosque and madrasa were funded by donations to the shrine.
A local devotee wishing to anonymity stated that the shrine was involved in practices considered un-Islamic, such as shirk (polytheism), bida’ah (innovation), and drug use. Therefore, local people decided to destroy the shrine.
Assistant Commissioner Maksudur Rahman of Gazipur Metropolitan Police (Sadar Zone) confirmed the incident and stated that police and army personnel were sent to the scene to control the situation.
