Police released four people picked up for interrogation on their alleged negligence in protecting the bust of revolutionary against British rule Bagha Jatin in the evening.
They are President of Kaya College Governing Body dvocate Nizamul Haq Chunnu, College Principal Harun ur Rashid Askari , night guard of the college Khalilur Rahman and Kaya Union unit League President also member of the college governing body Anisur Rahman,.
Meanwhile, college principal Harun ur Rashid has filed a case with Kumarkhali police station alleging anonymity in the case of vandalism.
Police have yet to make any arrests so far.
Advocate Nizamul Haque Chunnu, said police had discussed the whole matter with them. In the end it was decided to file a case. Regarding the negligence of the governing body of the college, he said CCTV cameras would be installed there immediately.
A police source claimed that after the vandalism of Bangabandhu’s sculpture in Kushtia on December 5, security measures including increasing night time guarding system and in cases installing CCTV camera were asked.
After the instruction, CCTV cameras were installed in different places and placing work is going on somewhere.
But no step was taken to protect the sculpture built in the birth place of Bagha Jatin.
Jatin’s sculpture is on the right side of the main entrance to the college ground.
At that moment, the police picked them up.
Kumarkhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rajibul Islam Khan said multiple CCTV cameras have already been installed in the upazila.
He said that although Kaya College is on the land, now there is no one of Jatin’s grandmother or any of their successors. However, Jatin has grown up here. It is said that there was a pond next to the college where Jatin used to bath.
UNO said the government is already considering a proposal to rename Kaya College after Jatin.
Kushtia Superintendent of Police SM Tanvir Arafath told The Daily Star that the college authorities had shown extreme negligence in protecting Jatin’s bust. They have clearly violated the instructions of the government.
The SP said the decision on the detainees could be made at the end of the interrogation.
Meanwhile, a source said that Khalilur Rahman, the night guard of the college, and his family are now living in the place where Jatin’s real maternity home was.
Kumarkhali Police Station OC Mojibur Rahman said interrogation was going on.
“It has been confirmed that the night guard Khalilur was sleeping at home when the vandalism took place,” said OC Mojibur Rahman.
Miscreants damaged Jatin’s bust on Thursday night. The matter came to light today (Friday) morning. The right cheek and nose of the sculpture have been hit, creating a hole on it.
Ziaul Haque Swapan, chairman of Kumarkhali’s Kaya Union Parishad and general secretary of the Kushtia District Youth League, said he had tried several times to find out what steps had been taken to protect Jatin’s sculpture but had received no response.
Abdus Samad, the then Khulna Divisional Commissioner, inaugurated the bust on December 6, 2016 was built by Kumarkhali Upazila Administration.
Later in the same year, the Governor of the Indian state of Tripura, Shri Tathagata Roy, visited the college and reopened the bust. A memorial plaque was placed next to the bust in honor of the Tathagata Ray.
