A Hindu college student and priest was reportedly tortured, held hostage and blackmailed for money in Bangladesh. 25-year-old Subhash Deuri was brought to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s emergency room due to severe injuries on Tuesday, a day after the incident on Monday evening. His sister Jaya Deuri stated that he is a first-year student at Dhaka Central Law College.
The victim is from the Magura district’s Sreepur Upazila and stays in a rented accommodation in Narinda, Wari. He had been serving as an assistant priest at Jagannath University’s principal temple for several months, performing daily religious rituals and was given a monthly honorarium.
He arrived in the Swamibagh area by rickshaw when he was kidnapped at 8:00 pm on Monday, but somehow managed to flee after enduring the torture. He was admitted to the emergency room in a critical state at around 7 am on Tuesday. According to Jaya, anonymous people robbed Subhash of all his money and possessions. They tormented him all night and pushed him to contact his friends and family for the purpose of extortion.
She said, “Around 1 am, I called my brother, but an unknown man answered the phone instead and demanded Tk 30,000 from me before hanging up. I didn’t have that much money, so I informed the rest of the family. Later, we found out that the same people had contacted other family members as well, demanding money. Around 2:30 am, my brother called me, crying, and begged me to send money. He said they would kill him if I didn’t. One of the abductors gave me a phone number, and after arranging the money, I transferred 26,000 to that number. After that, we lost all contact with my brother. My brother is now fighting for his life at Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” reported Bdnews24.
Subhash Deuri’s roommate and friend Durjoy Saha, “Subhash and I live in the same apartment. When I returned home around 9:30 pm, I didn’t find him there. I assumed he had gone out for some work and didn’t think much of it. Around 11:30 pm, I received a call from his phone asking me to send him some money. I couldn’t because I didn’t have any. Later, after my friends and I spent the night watching Brazil’s football match and walking around, we were returning home around 5:30 am when we found Subhash lying injured on the road in front of Agrani Bank on Narinda Road. He had severe injuries to his head, hands and legs. His mobile phone and wallet were missing. We immediately rescued him and took him to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 7:30am. He is currently undergoing treatment there,”
He further added, “Despite his critical condition, my friend managed to tell me a few things. He said he had been physically and mentally tortured from around 10 pm until 4 am. The attackers stripped him naked, recorded videos of him, and blackmailed him into asking his family members for money. They threatened to release the nude videos on social media if he failed to pay.”
According to Dipu Barman, Subhash’s relative, the accused thrashed him and wanted Tk 50,000 in ransom. “The family gave Tk 20,000, while the remaining amount was supposed to be paid the following morning. He suffered fractures to his leg and hip, and doctors have said he will require surgery,” he conveyed while talking to The Daily Star.
The Wari Police Station’s officer-in-charge, Mofizur Rahman, said that he had sent cops to collect information after learning about the incident, but he had not yet received any details. He mentioned that Subhash indicated being taken away and confined in a residence during his visit to a temple in Swamibagh.
“He later escaped by jumping from a part of the building in the early hours of the morning. He sustained injuries while jumping,” the officer stated. He added that Wari police are also looking into the case, even though the location of the occurrence falls under the Gendaria Police Station area.
Anik Kumar Das, member secretary of Jagannath University’s central temple committee, said, “He is not our permanent priest. Our priest is Saikat Pathak. However, Subhash occasionally performs religious rituals in his absence. This incident has no connection with our temple. We have already issued a statement on our temple’s Facebook page clarifying the matter.”
