The bodies of Bondhu Gopal Pal, a 35-year-old primary school teacher, his wife Beauty and son Angan were found lying in a pool of blood inside their residence on Tuesday, 8 October, in the Jiaganj area of Murshidabad district in West Bengal.
CLAIM
An image is now circulating on social media with the claim that it shows the person who killed the Pal family. Also, on the image, a text written in Bengali, when translated in English reads: ‘Murderer and his father’.
The claim along with the image reads: “यही है वो जिसने मुर्शिदाबाद के आर एस एस दल के कार्यकर्ता को उसके परिवार के साथ मौत के घाट उतार दिया, इसके बारे में कुछ कहना चाहोगे या मौन रहना है?” (Translated: He is the one who killed Murshidabad’s RSS worker and his family. Do you want to say something about it or stay silent?)
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim made with the image is completely false. The man in the blue kurta has been identified as Mehedi Hasan Rasel, who is an accused in the murder of a Bangladeshi student Abrar Farhad. The other one, whose face has been encircled, is Rasel’s father.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On conducting a Google reverse image search, we found multiple articles that identified the man dressed in blue as Mehedi Hasan Rasel, general secretary of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
The news reports dated between 7-8 October claimed that Rasel, along with several others, were expelled as they are allegedly involved in the murder of BUET’s student Abrar Farhad.
We then searched on Facebook using keywords ‘Mehedi Hasan Bangladesh university of engineering technology’ and found the account of ‘Mehedi Hasan Rasel’. He had shared the image in June with the caption ‘ Inspiration...Father.’
ABOUT ABRAR FARHAD’S MURDER
According to Dhaka Tribune, a student of BUET’s Electrical and Electronics engineering department, Abrar Farhad, was beaten to death by various Chhatra League leaders on 7 October in Sher-e-Bangla Hall of the university.
The leaders accused him of involvement with Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir and tortured him for hours, added the report.
The victim’s father filed a murder case on 7 October at the Chawkbazar police station located in Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka against 19 people.
Dhaka Tribune’s article dated 13 October reported that the order passed by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mamunur Rashid put accused Moaz Abu Huraira and Shamim Billah on five-day remand.
The article further reported that out of the 10 accused, five of them who were earlier remanded were also sent to jail. These include Mehedi Hasan Rasel, Muhtasim Fuad, Muntasir, Khandaker Tabassarul, and Ishtiaq Munna.
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