Iqbal confesses to demeaning Quran, yet to say who is behind

Seven days after the desecration of the Holy Quran in Cumilla, police declared they identified the person who did it. The person, Iqbal Hossain, is a resident of Cumilla city and a ‘vagrant and drug addict’. After his arrest, police said Iqbal confessed to the crime.

But the answers to vital questions such as why he did that and who made him place a copy of the Quran in the puja mandap, remain elusive.

Police said Iqbal is giving contradictory information during interrogation. And he is not giving the exact answer to any question.

Iqbal was brought to Cumilla Police Lines from Cox’s Bazar on Friday afternoon. High officials of police started to interrogate him there. He confessed to placing the Quran in the puja mandap and removing the mace from an idol.

Cumilla’s police superintendent Faruque Ahmed told Prothom Alo last night that they wanted some specific information from Iqbal. He confessed to some while some questions are yet to be answered. He would be interrogated further.

Police sources said certain persons including the local people’s representative who were close to Iqbal, are under surveillance.

The recent spate of communal attacks in various parts of the country ensued from a makeshift puja mandap at Nanua Dighir Par area in Cumilla. Communal tensions spread in the city on 13 October centring the demeaning of the Holy Quran at the mandap. Four temples and seven puja mandaps were vandalised and set afire in Cumilla that day. Communal violence spread like wildfire in Noakhali’s Chowmuhani, Chandpur’s Hajiganj, Rangpur’s Pirganj, Feni and different parts of the country. Hindu temples, mandaps, houses and businesses came under attack. Houses of Hindu people were torched at Pirganj.

Cumilla Puja Celebration Committee’s general secretary Achintyo Das told Prothom Alo, “We want to see those who made Iqbal do this. We want to see the main person behind the incident. The investigation has progressed with the arrest of Iqbal, but it still remains to be seen who the main planners were. We want the real culprits to be identified and handed down exemplary punishment.”

A total of eight cases were filed over Cumilla incident. Three councillors of Jamaat, some BNP activists include 91 persons named in the cases while 700 more unidentified persons were also made accused. A total of 46 have so far been arrested.

According to police sources, Iqbal said during interrogation that he went to Chattogram from Cumilla by train on 13 October afternoon. He later moved to Cox’s Bazar.

Iqbal gave contradictory statements on how he reached Cox’s Bazar from Chattogram. He sometimes said that he went to Cox’s Bazar on foot while sometimes he said he boarded a bus. He gave the interrogators inconsistent statements on the matter.

Police are yet to disclose matters such as where he stayed in Cox’s Bazar, how much money he had taken with him and why he had no cellphone with him.

Police sources said three students of Noakhali’s Chowmuhani SA College went to Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday. They noticed a man loitering at the Kolatoli sea beach area that day. They soon forgot about him.

They happen to notice the same man the following day, this time at Sugandha sea beach. The man’s wayward behaviour and loitering caught the attention of those three friends. Sajedur Rahman, one of three college students, at one point found that the face seemed familiar. He vaguely recalled seeing the person’s photograph in the media. They started to match the man’s visage with the photographs from the media.

Sajedur Rahman told Prothom Alo, “It seemed to me that this is the person who placed the Holy Quran at Cumilla’s mandap. I could not be certain about it. Later I called the assistant superintendent of Noakhali police and informed him about the incident.”

Police sources said, the ASP soon reported the matter to Noakhali’s SP.

Cumilla SP Faruque Ahmed told Prothom Alo, “Noakhali district SP communicated me that a phone call informed him that a person resembling Iqbal has been detected in sea beach. We instructed those who detected to keep an eye on the man until police reaches there.”

Cox’s Bazar police later detained Iqbal from the spot.

SP Faruque Ahmed said the family member identified Iqbal from the photos of captured from the spot.

Later, a team of police led by ASP (Sadar circle) Md. Shohan Sarker brought Iqbal Cumilla from Cox’s Bazar.

Police collected CCTV footage of different houses in Nanua Dighir Par area on 14 October. Footage from Kajibari at the south-west corner of Nanua Dighir Par showed a man walking with a mace in the late hours of 12 October. This was the first clue. The law enforcers identified Iqbal from more footage. At one stage, police detained Iqbal’s father Nur Ahmed Alam, uncle Tajul Islam and younger brother Safayet Hossain.

Their statements, along with the footage, helped police confirm that the person was Iqbal.

Banker Kazi Fakhrul Islam, resident of Kajibari, said the home ministry instructed CCTVs to be installed in every temple and mandap during Durga Puja and there should 24-hour guardd. But the mandap at Nanua Dighir Par had neither.

He said Hindu and Muslims live here harmoniously and everyone is shocked at the incident.

District administration formed a three-member probe body headed by additional district magistrate (ADM) Md Sayedul Arefin its convener. The probe body was asked to submit its report within three working days. But the committee is yet to submit the report after 10 days of the incident.

Cumilla deputy commission Mohammad Kamrul Hasan said, “The committee’s tenure has been extended for 15 more days. As Iqbal has now been caught, there would be more information coming from him. We are looking to this now.”

On 13 October, some people brought out a procession at Monoharpur area protesting the desecration of the Holy Quran at Nanua Dighir Par. The protesters hurled stones at the Rajrajeshwari Kalibari temple. Dilip Kumar sustained injuries on the head from the stones as he went to close the main door of the temple during the attack. He was rushed to Cumilla Medical College first and shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after his condition deteriorated. Dilip lost the battle for life after nine days and died on Thursday night.

Dilip, son of Bishulal Das, lived in Panpatti area, opposite Cumilla Kotwali police station. He has left behind a wife, a son and a daughter.

Dilip’s niece Shanta Kumar Das demanded exemplary punishment for his death.