Staff Correspondent:

A group of people attacked the historic Rabindra Kacharibari in Sirajganj’s Shahjadpur upazila, following a “quarrel with the staff over motorcycle parking on Sunday”, police said.

The attackers, mostly young men, broke open the entrance around 11:30am and vandalised the auditorium, doors, and windows, said Habibur Rahman, custodian of the Kacharibari.

He, however, said the mansion, which houses a memorial museum named after the Nobel Laureate, remained unharmed in the attack.

“There were visitors at the site who panicked due to the sudden attack. We took shelter during the attack and informed police immediately,” Habibur said.

“The staffers tried to resist as the attackers marched toward the museum. By this time, the police had rushed to the spot to foil them,” he said adding five to six persons including staffers and visitors were injured during the attack.

Aslam Ali, officer-in-charge of Shahjadpur Police Station, told our Pabna correspondent that they came to know that the attack was carried out following a quarrel with its staffer over parking a motorcycle outside the Kacharibari on June 8.

No major damage occurred and police were deployed there, he said.

Tagore’s grandfather Prince Dwarkanath bought the estate in Shahzadpur from Zaminder Rani Bhabani of Natore in 1840, long before the poet’s birth.

After getting the responsibility to maintain the estate, Tagore visited Shahjadpur several time and stayed at the mansion of the Kacharibari for years in phases.