Gold crown gifted by PM Modi to Bangladesh temple stolen amid Durga Puja celebrations
Dhaka, Oct 11: A gold crown gifted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stolen from a Hindu temple in Bangladesh's southwestern Satkhira district amid Durga Puja celebrations, a theft over which India has expressed concern.
Bangladesh police on Friday said they have identified a man and launched a massive manhunt to recover the gold crown that was stolen from the Jeshoreshwari Kali temple on Thursday.
In a post on 'X', the Indian High Commission in Dhaka expressed deep concern over the theft and called upon the authorities to recover the article and take action against the perpetrators of the crime.
“A massive manhunt is underway to arrest the culprit identified through the CCTV footage,” Satkhira’s police chief Monirul Islam said adding that the police were aware that the issue was sensitive.
The police superintendent said the crown was stolen between 2.47 pm and 2.50 pm on Thursday.
A private news channel showed a young man wearing a white t-shirt and jeans sneaking into the Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple and removing the golden part of the crown and pocketing it while nobody was inside the temple.
A woman worker later discovered that the crown was missing from the head of the Kali statue and raised the alarm.
According to Hindu residents of the neighbourhood, priest Dilip Kumar Banerjee went home as per his daily routine after the afternoon puja, leaving the key of the temple with Rekha who was in charge of the temple services.
“It could be a simple case of theft or it could be a case of an orchestrated plot. We demand the matter be investigated properly and the persons involved be brought to justice,” leader of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council Krishna Mukherjee said.
Modi gifted the crown on March 27, 2021, during his Bangladesh visit.
India expressed concern over the incident with its high commission in Dhaka issuing a statement asking authorities to recover the crown and take action against the perpetrators.
"We express concern over the incident and urge the Government of Bangladesh to investigate the theft, recover the crown and take action against the perpetrators," the High Commission said in a Facebook post.
The theft took place even as the country ordered an extra security vigil as the Hindu community’s biggest religious festival Durga Puja is underway.
📹 Kali Jewel Heist Caught on Camera: Crown Gifted by Modi Stolen from Temple in Bangladesh
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 11, 2024
Staff at the Jeshoreshwari Temple in Satkhira reported the silver & gold-plated piece gone on Thursday. (Daily Star)
Indian PM Modi presented it as a gift during a visit in 2021. pic.twitter.com/1cmP21ABdL
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Gujarat: Mevani demands collector’s suspension over ‘anti-Dalit’ remark; IAS officer rejects charge
Mahnisagar, Oct 30: Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani on Wednesday demanded the suspension of Mahisagar District Collector Neha Kumari, accusing her of making anti-Dalit comments, a charge the bureaucrat rejected.
Mevani’s demand comes a week after he sought similar action against senior IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian for allegedly misbehaving with him and one of his party colleagues.
Mevani targeted Kumari citing a purported video in which she was heard saying that 90 per cent of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, or the Atrocities Act, are used for blackmailing.
The IAS officer termed the lawmaker’s claims “baseless” and an unsuccessful attempt to get political mileage.
Mevani visited Lunawada, the district headquarters, and demanded that an FIR be registered against the collector under the Atrocities Act and that she was suspended over her “insensitive” remarks and “unparliamentary” words.
When one Vijay Parmar went to meet the collector with his grievance at the SWAGAT programme on October 23, she used “unparliamentary” words against him and also insulted the lawyer community by saying they should be “slapped with slippers”, the Vadgam MLA told reporters.
SWAGAT is an initiative of the Gujarat government for the redressal of people’s grievances.
According to Mevani, the collector’s claim that 90 per cent of cases under the Atrocities Act are misused for blackmailing is an insult to the SC and ST communities and amounts to an offence under the Atrocities Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“We demand Kumari's suspension and that a case be registered against her,” he said.
The district collector called the MLA’s allegations a “political stunt”.
“The man whom the MLA called poor, innocent young friend (Vijay Parmar) has a police case against him, and his brother has more than one case of rape, kidnapping and assault against him,” Kumari said, adding that they keep visiting the collector’s office with grievances.
At the SWAGAT programme on October 23, he pressured the collector to file a case against police officers. When the collector told him that she did not have the power to file a case and that he should approach the superintendent of police (SP) or the court, he continued to pester her over his issue, she said.
He even threatened the officers and told the collector that she was a Brahmin and he would let her know what “section 4 of the Atrocities Act entailed”, she said.
“You can understand the direction in which this MLA wants to take law and order by keeping a person with a criminal history along with him even when the state government is sensitive about children and women,” she said.
The collector said that the way Vijay Parmar is “blackmailing” government employees in the name of the Atrocities Act is not at all right. “The MLA's support to such people makes it difficult for the real complainants and the real victims to get justice,” she said.
Last week, Congress leaders and Dalit community members gathered outside the office of the Director General of Police in the state capital Gandhinagar demanding the suspension of senior IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian over his alleged misbehaviour with Mevani and his party colleague.
