Hindu temple worker hacked to death in Bangladesh as attacks on religious minorities increase

A Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in western Bangladesh on Friday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on religious minorities by suspected Islamists.

Shyamananda Das, who helped conduct prayers at the Radhamadan Gopal Bigraha Math in Jhenaidah district, was killed by three men on a motorcycle as he was walking on a highway adjacent to his temple early in the morning, police said.

“They hacked him on his neck three times and there was one stabbing mark in his head,” said deputy police chief of the district Gopinath Kanjilal. “He died after he was brought to a hospital.”

Kanjilal said Das, also known as Babaji, was “a priest” in the temple. But local police chief inspector Hasan Hafizur Rahman said the 50-year-old man was “a temple volunteer who helps conduct prayers”. “He was an itinerant temple volunteer who travels from one temple to another to serve the Hindu devotees. He came to this temple only yesterday,” he said.

“He was attacked as he walked outside the temple to collect flowers for prayer services,” he added.