Bangladesh police have arrested the main accused in the brutal lynching of Hindu garment factory worker Dipu Chandra Das, a case that had drawn widespread outrage and international condemnation. According to the local media reports, the arrested man, Mohammad Yasin Arafat, is a former teacher who played a central role in planning and carrying out the attack. The arrest was made on Thursday, 8th January, after Arafat reportedly went into hiding following the killing.
According to the police, Arafat was not just a participant but the key instigator of the mob violence. He used his influence in the local area to gather people and provoke them against Dipu Das.
Investigators said Arafat actively encouraged the crowd and personally dragged the victim to a nearby intersection, where he was beaten, hanged from a tree, and later set on fire. With his arrest, the total number of people held in the case has now risen to 21, and the probe is still ongoing.
“Yasin played a leading role in the murder alongside others. After the killing, he went into hiding and remained on the run for 12 days at different madrasas in Sarulia. He also joined a madrasa named Suffa as a teacher,” a police officer said.
Three key witnesses have given statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, while nine accused have made confessional statements in court. Eighteen suspects have been sent to jail following completion of remand. Police said Dipu’s own colleagues were among those who joined the mob. After the killing, Yasin Arafat fled the area and remained in hiding until his arrest.
Authorities are also examining Arafat’s past role as a mosque teacher to determine whether he used his position to influence others beyond this incident. Yasin had been serving as an imam at Sheikhbari Mosque in Kashar and teaching at Madina Tahfizul Quran Madrasa.
So far, 21 people have been arrested in connection with the case.
Background of the case
On 18th December, a young Hindu man was lynched by a violent Muslim mob in Bhaluka village in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. The victim was identified as 27-year-old Dipu Chandra Das. The victim’s body was then tied to a tree and set on fire. A gut-wrenching video of the incident had gone viral on social media.
Dipu Chandra Das worked as a labourer in a garment factory. Following a workplace dispute, he was falsely accused of ‘insulting’ Prophet Muhammad and committing blasphemy. The manager of the factory forced Das to resign and handed him over to a violent Muslim mob so that he could be killed.
There have been numerous attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh following the death of Dipu Das, which has increased concerns about the minorities’ safety. In the wake of the lynching, at least seven other Hindu men were killed.
In the Rajbari district of Bangladesh, Amrit Mondal was beaten to death by a mob of village locals. In another incident in Mymensingh, Bajendra Biswas was killed by a gunshot.
In another incident on New Year’s Eve in the district of Shariatpur, Khokon Chandra Das, a Hindu businessman, was beaten up by a mob and set on fire. He died later in a Dhaka hospital where he was receiving treatment.
Meanwhile, a newspaper editor and businessman named Rana Pratap Bairagi was shot and killed in Jessore district on Monday (5th January). Also, a 25-year-old Hindu, who jumped into a pond to avoid being beaten up by a group of people who suspected him of stealing, drowned in Naogaon district.
Such events have heightened fears about the rising levels of violence committed against minorities in Bangladesh, despite promises for measures to be taken.
