Overview
- Joy Mahapatra, 19, died on Friday after being transferred from Dirai Upazila Health Complex to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital following reported poisoning.
- Family members allege he was assaulted, humiliated, and had his phone seized at a local shop over a delayed 500-taka installment for a mobile phone.
- The accused shopkeeper, Amirul Islam, denies the claims, saying a larger balance was owed and asserting his shop did not sell poison.
- Dirai police say they inspected the scene and will proceed once a written complaint is filed, as reports tie the case to a broader recent rise in attacks on Hindus.
- India’s foreign ministry called the recurring attacks disturbing, and Bangladesh police announced the arrest of Yasin Arafat as the prime suspect in the December lynching of Dipu Chandra Das.