- Hindu law student abducted in Dhaka, ransom money paid.
- Victim escaped captivity, now hospitalised with serious injuries.
- Police are investigating the incident; temple clarified victim’s role.
A 25-year-old Hindu law student, who also occasionally serves as an assistant priest at a temple, was allegedly abducted, assaulted and held for ransom after being picked up from Dhaka’s Wari area in Bangladesh, according to police and local media reports.
The victim, identified as Subhash Deuri, is undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). A first-year student at Central Law College in Old Dhaka, Deuri also occasionally performs religious rituals at the central temple of Jagannath University in the absence of the regular priest.
Authorities have not established whether Deuri was targeted because of his religion. Police have launched an investigation into the incident as officials continue to examine the circumstances surrounding the alleged abduction.
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Family Says Ransom Was Paid Before Victim Escaped
According to Deuri’s relatives, he was abducted at around 8 p.m. on Monday after arriving in the Swamibagh area by rickshaw. He managed to escape early on Tuesday before contacting his roommate, who took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.
His sister, Jaya, told Bangladeshi news portal Bdnews24 that she received a call from Deuri’s phone at around 1 a.m. on Tuesday. An unidentified caller allegedly demanded 30,000 Bangladeshi Taka as ransom.
She said the abductors provided a bank account for the payment. After 26,000 Bangladeshi Taka was transferred to the account, Deuri was reportedly left on a street in the Old Dhaka area. A relative, Dipu Barman, told The Daily Star that Deuri suffered fractures to his leg and hip and would require surgery.
Police Investigating Sequence of Events
Mofizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Wari Police Station, told The Daily Star that Deuri informed investigators he had gone to a temple in Swamibagh on Monday night when several people allegedly abducted him and confined him inside a house.
According to the police officer, Deuri later escaped by jumping from part of the building during the early hours of Tuesday. He sustained injuries while making the escape. Police said the investigation is continuing.
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Temple Committee Clarifies Victim’s Role
Following reports describing Deuri as a temple priest, Jagannath University’s central temple committee clarified that he was not the institution’s permanent priest.
Anik Kumar Das, member secretary of the temple committee, said the regular priest is Saikat Pathak and that Deuri only occasionally performed religious rituals in his absence. He also stated that the incident had no connection with the university temple and noted that the committee had issued a clarification on its Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Kajal Debnath, spokesperson for the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, told PTI that the organisation was gathering details of the incident and was trying to determine whether it was an abduction for ransom or a case of mugging.
Deuri is a resident of Magura district in Bangladesh’s Khulna division, about 170 kilometres west of Dhaka, and had been living in a rented apartment with a friend in the capital, according to local media reports.
