Panchagarh: A Panchagarh court on Tuesday placed three suspects on a 15-day remand in two cases filed in connection with the murder of a priest at Sri Sri Sonto Gaurio temple in Debiganj upazila in the district.

The suspects are Khalilur Rahman, 55, son of late Taijuddin of Bhaulaganj village and Jahangir Hossain, 30, son of Rafiqul Islam of Kamathpara village in Debigaj upazila. They are alleged members of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Babul Hossain, 31, son of Abu Sayeed of Kaliagaj village under the same upazila is an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Most. Marzia Khatun sent the trio on a 10-day remand in the murder case and also a five-day remand for the case filed for possessing illegal firearms and explosives after police produced them before the court around 12:45pm.   

Unidentified assailants attacked priest Jogeswar Dasadhikari, 50, of Sri Sri Sonto Gaurio temple on Sunday morning when he was preparing his offerings for the morning puja at the temple, about half a kilometer away from the upazila headquarter.

They first hacked him indiscriminately in front of the temple and chased him to a house in the backyard where they slit his throat, leaving him dead on the spot, police said quoting local people. 

The attackers shot devotee Gopal Chandra Roy, 35, who was under going treatment at Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) and also hurt another devotee Nirmol Chandra Roy, 40, by hurling a homemade bomb while escaping from the spot.    

Locals said they saw three people fleeing the scene on a motorbike. 
Jogeswar's elder brother Rabindranath Roy filed the murder case with Debiganj Police Station accusing three unknown people on Sunday night and Mojibur Rahman, sub-inspector (SI) of the police station filed the other case for possessing fire arms and explosives. 

Although the police arrested the three suspects in connection with the killing in Panchagarh, they were still clueless about the motive behind the gruesome murder.

Law enforcers picked up Khalil on Sunday evening from Bhaulaganj Bazar while Jahangir Hossain and Babul Hossain were arrested from their houses in the upazila during an overnight drive, police said.

Local police sources, however, claimed the arrestees were accused in criminal cases in the past.

Munim/RI