Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi, who was gunned down by assailants in Rangpur’s Kawnia upazila on Oct 3, had converted to Islam three months ago, locals claim. Several people and an Imam of a mosque in the locality in Munshipara where Kunio lived said this to bdnews24.com. To back the claim, they showed a photograph of the 66-year old Japanese national in a scalp cap, usually worn when offering prayers at a mosque.
Munshipara mosque’s Imam Siddik Hossain said: “I converted him to Islam during the last Ramadan in presence of a group of local Muslims. He had offered Jumma prayers at this mosque several times since then.”
Kunio was shot dead reportedly by three masked assailants riding motorcycles when he was going to his grass farm at Alutari village in Kawnia. The killing was similar to that of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella at Dhaka’s Gulshan on Sept 28.
Munshipara resident Riazul Islam Rintu said that Kunio converted to Islam on the 27th day of Ramadan month this year and took the name ‘Golam Kibria’.
“I was present when he converted,” he said, adding, “He offered Jumma prayers at this mosque near his residence and attended the Eid-ul-Azha prayers at the Munshipara Eidgah.”
Another resident of the area, Mizanur Rahman Ripu, echoed Rintu. “I’ve seen him offer Jumma prayers several times.”
Kunio was the tenant of one Zakaria Bala, whose two brothers live in Japan.
Bala said the Japanese man lived alone as a tenant in his house and worked on the grass farm at Alutari village.
Locals at Alutari remember Kunio as a soft-spoken, cheerful man.
People living near his farm say he used to speak with them in Bangla, though he had little command over the language“He came here almost every day and spoke with us in broken Bangla,” Aziz Mia, a local farmer, said. “He was quite jolly and exchanged ‘Salam’ with people.”
“No one from our village understands why a good man like him had to be killed this way.”
Another person, Abdul Haque, said, “He used to come with a man named Hira by rickshaw every day. But after the Eid, he had been travelling alone.”
‘Hira’, Zakaria Bala’s brother-in-law, is currently in police custody along with five others. Bala is also among those detained so far.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Rangpur, Saifur Rahman said, “We are interrogating the detainees. They will be accused in the case if we find proof of their involvement in the murder,” according to bdnews24.com.
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