Indian mission officials meet slain priest’s family

Two officials from Indian High Commission today met with the family of a slain Hindu priest in Jhenidah and assured them of monetary assistance.

Ananda Gopal Ganguly, 70, of Karatipara village in Sadar upazila, was brutally murdered yesterday when he was going to a temple in Naldanga union.

Rajesh Uike, First Secretary (Political and Information), and Ramakant Gupta, First Secretary (Consular), reached Ganguly’s house at noon, Hasan Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station, told The Daily Star.

Police said the priest was stabbed in the neck and his throat was slit and died on the spot.

The incident had similarity with other suspected militant attacks of recent times, the official said.

Hours after the killing yesterday, global terror outfit Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for it, says a post on SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terror activities globally.

Referring to Amaq News Agency, the so-called media wing of IS, SITE post says, “IS fighters in Bangladesh killed a Hindu priest in Jhenidah, in the west of the country.”