killing of Former PDB chairman
Police suspect religious link
The Bangladesh Power Development Boards (PDB) former chairman, Khijir Khan, was killed at his home in Dhakas Badda on Monday.
Unidentified men entered the house forcibly around 8.30 pm. Khans throat was slit from behind, the autopsy report said.
The police suspect Khans death was the fallout of religious debate among Islamic clerics. Aminul Islam, sub-inspector at Badda police station, said Khans family has not lodged a complaint yet.
The police have started investigating the murder, which is similar to that of an Islamic programme presenter of a private television channel, Moulana Nurul Islam Faruqui, in Dhaka on August 27 last year. We suspect the debate over religious dogma is the reason behind the murders of Islamic clerics in the city, said Islam.
Khans younger son Ashraful Islam claimed that religious extremists might have killed him to create confusion in society. The medical student at Shahabuddin Medical College said: My father had no personal enmity with anyone. Khans elder son Motiul Islam is a computer engineer, he added.
Khan was in charge of the Mohammadia Khanquah Dhaka Office and also had some disciples who visited him at home regularly. He was a pir who ran his own khanquah sharif (a religious meeting place) at his house on the third floor of a seven-storied building in Badda.
Mohanagar University College students in Badda demonstrated on the campus, demanding trial of the criminals who murdered Khan, who was also the college president. Khan, 66, was a former freedom fighter, a member of the Rural Electrification Board (REB) and president of the Kushtia District Association.
PDB officials remember him as an efficient engineer. He will be buried at his family graveyard, said sources.
