Man detained in Cox’s Bazar suspected to be Cumilla’s Iqbal: Police

The law enforcers claimed to have detained a man suspecting him to be Iqbal Hossain, who kept a copy of the holy Quran at a Puja mandap in Cumilla, during the Durga Puja festival of Hindu Community.

Police detained the man from Cox’s Bazar sea beach area on Thursday night suspecting him to be Iqbal Hossain and he was sent to Cimilla right away, according to police.

Police identified Iqbal, the prime suspect of the Cumilla puja venue incident, after verifying the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.

UNB Adds: He is believed to have placed the holy Quran inside Nanuar Dighi Par puja mandap in Cumilla city in the early hours of October 13, which led to attacks on Durga Puja venues across the country recently.

Also, violence against houses and businesses of the Hindu community Hindu communities followed in several districts, including Chandpur, Noakhali, Chattogram and Rangpur, leaving at least seven people dead and many injured. Of the dead, five were Muslim rioters who died in police firing.

Iqbal was most likely instructed to keep the Quran at the mandap by others with a view to stoking communal tensions, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan today.

“Everything was done in a planned way. The man, who had kept the Quran at the temple, might have done it as per others' instruction…there might be provocation behind it. We'll be able to know the motive after his arrest,” the home minister said.

He said after examining the CCTV footage of the surrounding area it has been ascertained that the man who kept the holy Quran at the Cumilla temple took it from a mosque.

“The man had been to Mazar mosque thrice that night. It was clear from the CCTV footage that the man took the Quran from the mosque to keep it at the temple,” Asaduzzaman added.