BANGLADESH, April 20, 2013 (the Daily Star): Unidentified criminals set a 200-year-old Hindu temple ablaze at Rajoir upazila in Madaripur in the wee hours yesterday. Police and locals said miscreants torched the Kali Mandir at Mahendradi village sometime after midnight.
Dadon Kanta, chairman of Haridashdi-Mahendradi upazila, suspects that Jamaat or BNP men are behind the attack. Police, meanwhile, arrested Haridashdi-Mahendradi union unit BNP President Abul Kalam Azad yesterday afternoon suspecting his involvement in the incident. Mofazzal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Rajoir Police Station, said they were yet to identify the attackers and that they were investigating the incident.
Uttam Banerjee, president of the temple managing committee, said locals rushed to the spot on seeing the flames but the temple had been badly burnt before they could bring the flames under control. In December last year, miscreants vandalised some statues of the same temple, he added. Hindu temples in several districts have come under attacks in the past few mont