Iqbal Hossain and three others accused in an alleged case of desecration of Quran at a temporary Puja site in Cumilla’s Nanuwar Dighir Par have been remanded for a further five days, allowing police to further quiz them.
Cumilla Senior Judicial Magistrate Farhana Sultana granted the remand Friday afternoon after police applied for a seven-day remand in the case of hurting religious sentiments.
Mohammad Rezwan, police super of Cumilla Criminal Investigation Department (CID), confirmed the development to UNB.
Iqbal and three others – Ekram, who called 999 after the incident, and Daroga Bari shrine caretakers Humayun Kabir and Faisal – need to be questioned further as they have started disclosing facts, Rezwan said.
The previous seven-day remand ended Friday.
Police handed over the Quran desecration case against Iqbal Hossain and three others to the CID on October 24.
The instruction came from the Police Headquarters, Rezwan said.
“Also, the law enforcers took Iqbal to the Daroga Bari Mazar Mosque pond at night. At 11pm the divers found the mace which went missing from Nanuar Dighi puja site in Cumilla city,” Parimal Das, inspector of Cumilla Detective Branch of Police, said.
In footage of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, Iqbal could be seen taking the Quran from a local mosque and entering a Durga Puja site. He is later seen walking away with a mace, taken from an idol of Lord Hanuman.
A few moments later he is not seen with the club and enters the shrine. Iqbal said he threw the club into the pond.
Police filed a case with Cumilla Kotwali Police Station on October 13 against unnamed people for “besmirching the Quran and hurting religious sentiments,” said Cumilla Additional Superintendent of Police M Tanvir Ahmed.
On October 23, Iqbal, Ekram, Humayun Kabir, and Faisal were placed on a seven-day remand.
The prime accused Iqbal was held from Cox’s Bazar beach on October 21. He was then taken to the Cumilla Police Lines the next day.
On October 13, a 999 call to police reported that a copy of the Quran was found on the lap of a Hanuman idol, but his weapon, a club, was missing from a puja site in Cumilla.
Iqbal placed the Quran on the lap of the idol. Ekram called the national emergency helpline “999” to report the “desecration of the holy scripture.”
It led to violence against houses and businesses of the Hindu community in several districts, including Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali, Chattogram and Rangpur, leaving at least eight people dead and many injured. Of the dead, five were Muslim rioters who died in police firing.
Police identified Iqbal, the prime suspect of the Cumilla puja venue incident, on October 20 after scrutinising the footage of several CCTV cameras.
Source: United News of Bangladesh