Amidst the ongoing communal tensions in Bangladesh following the arrest of former ISKCON priest Chinmoy Krishna Das, a viral post on social media claims that a Muslim lawyer, Saiful Islam Alif, was murdered for defending Das.
A Facebook post sharing the claim reads: Saiful Islam Alif, a Muslim lawyer who came to defend Chinmay Krishna Prabhu, was killed by the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.
Check the above post here (Archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral claim, and found it to be MISLEADING.
Searching with relevant keywords, the NM team found a statement from the Bangladesh Chief Adviser’s press wing, clarifying that the viral claim about the death of a Muslim lawyer representing the ISKCON priest is false. The statement also reveals that the lawyer representing Krishna Das is named Subasish Sharma, not Saiful Islam Alif.
The statement reads: “Some Indian media are claiming that lawyer Saiful Islam Alif, who was brutally murdered in Chattagram today, was representing Chinmoy Krishna Das. The claim is false and spread with mala fide intention. The vakalatnama produced by Chinmoy Krishna Das to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court has shown that advocate Subasish Sharma is his lawyer. We request everyone to refrain from any provocative, false report.”
A BBC Bengali report, titled “Chinmoy Krishna Das bail protest, clash, death of lawyer in Chittagong”, also confirms that the lawyer representing Chinmoy Krishna Das is Subasish Sharma, not Saiful Islam Alif.
Thus, we can conclusively say that the claim that a Muslim lawyer was killed for defending Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh is FALSE.
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