Shahidunnabi Jewel, with probable mental problems, had entered the local mosque saying that it housed a group of radical jihadists. A second person was wounded. Local authorities had tried to save the two victims from the attack. The police send reinforcements to calm the situation.
Burimari (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Last night an angry mob lynched and set fire to a man accused of "wounding religious sentiment". The incident took place in Burimari (Lalmonirhat district), a railway station on the northern border with India.
The victim was identified as Shahidunnabi Jewel, a 50-year-old librarian with probable mental health problems who worked at Cantonment Public School in nearby Rangpur. Sultan Jubaer Abbas, who is now in police custody, was also beaten along with him. Several people who tried to stop the attack, including three local public officials, were injured.
According to sources from the Burimari Union Parishad (the city administration), Shahidunnabi and Sultan presented themselves to the imam of the local mosque claiming that militants of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a jihadist group active in the country, were inside the building. The two men then began searching in the library of the sacred place; some faithful found this act blasphemous and attacked them.
To save them from the aggression, Union Parishad staff took Shahidunnabi and Sultan to their offices. Shortly after, however, a crowd of hundreds of people broke into the administration premises, dragging Shahidunnabi into the street: the man was beaten to death, and his body set on fire with gasoline and firewood.
The police have announced that reinforcements, including a special battalion, have been sent to the scene and that investigations to find those responsible for the murder are underway.