Bangladesh police arrest two ISKCON priests, claims Kolkata spokesperson Radharamn Das

Bangladesh police reportedly arrest two more ISKCON priests
Bangladesh police reportedly arrest two more ISKCON priests. Photo Courtesy: Avro Neel Hindu X page

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Kolkata spokesperson Radharamn Das on Sunday claimed two more Hindu priests have been arrested in Bangladesh amid an escalation in atrocities faced by the minority community members in the country since Muhammad Yunus-led interim government took charge in August.

Das shared the images of the two priests and wrote on X: “Do they look like terrorists? All of them have been arrested by Bangladeshi police without any reason.”

They have been identified as Ranganath Shyamsunder Das and Rudrapati Keshav Das.

Das reposted an X post which claimed they were arrested from Pundarik Dham in Bangladesh.

However, no official comment on the arrests has been made so far by the Bangladesh government.

Sources told NDTV they were detained by authorities without warrants.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Immigration officials on Sunday refused to grant permission to 54 International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) members to cross the border and travel to India through the Benapole check post despite having valid passports and visas, media reports said.

The incident came to light amid ongoing protests by Hindu community members across the country following the arrest of a religious leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in Chittagong.

Several radical groups have asked the interim government to ban the Hindu religious group in the South Asian country.

Imtiaz Ahsanul Quader Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge (OC) of the Benapole Immigration Police, told The Daily Star that they “lacked specific government permission” required for their travel.

“They cannot proceed without such approval,” the OC said.

An ISKCON member said they were planning to visit India to participate in a religious event.

Saurabh Tapander Cheli, an ISKCON member, expressing his frustration, told Dhaka Tribune: “I came to attend a religious ceremony in India. But immigration authorities sent me back without providing any explanation.”

Bangladesh is once again witnessing turmoil since Chinmoy Krishna Das was arrested recently, triggering massive protests by minority community members in the country.

Bangladesh has been struggling for the past several months since a massive anti-job quota demonstration forced former PM Sheikh Hasina-led government to topple, ending her new term prematurely as she fled the country amid a chaos. 

It is suspected that foreign hands were at play in orchestrating the unrest and planning her ouster.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus-led government took charge of the country just three days after Hasina exited the country. Yunus, known for his closeness to the US Democrats, also accepted later in an event in America that there was “design and conspiracy” involved in the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.