ISKCON centre in Bangladesh’s Shibchar ‘forcibly shut down’ (Lead)

New Delhi/Kolkata Nov 28 An ISKCON centre in Bangladesh's Shibchar has been forcibly shut down by a group of people, media reports said.

The purported development came against the backdrop of the arrest of an ISKCON priest, Chinmoy Krishna Das, in Bangladesh to which India has strongly reacted.

According to reports that cited eyewitnesses, army personnel took away the ISKCON devotees in a vehicle.

ISKCON, Kolkata Vice President and Spokesperson Radharaman Das wrote on X, “ISKCON Namhatta centre in Shibchar Bangladesh forcefully Closed Down by Muslims. The Army arrived and took away the ISKCON devotees in a vehicle.”

Along with his post, Radharaman Das also attached a video that shows a leader of a local Islamic group demanding the closure of the ISKCON office in Shibchar.

The video, as claimed by Das, has also shown that some people engaged in removing the board of the ISKCON temple featuring a picture of the founder of this international spiritual institution.

Earlier, Das had told IANS that the reply of the Bangladesh government to the Ministry of External Affairs on the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna was highly frustrating,

Chinmoy Krishna Das was taken into custody by Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Monday as the interim government led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus continues to inflict horrors on the Hindu community of the country.

Chinmoy Krishna, also known as Krishna Prabhu Das, was taken into custody by the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday at 4:30 pm.

Chinmoy Krishna was not only associated with the Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajot (BJHM), a grand national alliance of 23 religious organisations in the country but also with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

As the news about Chinmoy Krishna's arrest spread on social media, several protests broke out in Chittagong, demanding his immediate release.

It was reported that protesters marched and rallied at the Cheragi intersection in the city, chanting slogans and demanding his release.

Several videos that went viral on social media late Monday evening showed Bangladeshi policemen targeting the protestors who were marching towards the Cheragi intersection.

The incidents of vandalism, looting, arson, land grabbing, and threats to leave the country have been repeatedly inflicted on the Hindu community after the interim government was sworn-in on August 8 under the leadership of Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus.

The Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad had earlier sent an 'open letter' to Yunus, expressing "profound sorrow and concern" over a particular group's "unprecedented violence" against the minorities.