Bangladesh crisis: Hindu scribe shot in head, throat slit; latest in spate of minority attacks

A Hindu businessman who also served as the acting editor of a local newspaper was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Monday evening in Bangladesh’s Jessore district, reported news agency PTI citing local media.

The victim has been identified as 38-year-old Rana Pratap Bairagi, a resident of Arua village in Keshabpur upazila of Jessore district in the Khulna Division, according to Bangla-language daily Prothom Alo.


Bairagi owned an ice-making factory at Kopaliya Bazar in Monirampur and was also the acting editor of Dainik BD Khabar, a newspaper published from neighbouring Narail district, the report said.

The incident took place around 5.45 pm at Kapalia Bazar, Additional Police Superintendent Abul Basar told the bdnews24 news portal.

Citing police and local residents, Prothom Alo reported that three men riding a motorcycle arrived at the ice factory and called Bairagi outside. They allegedly took him to a narrow alley near the Kapalia Clinic and Diagnostic Centre, located on the western side of Kapalia Bazar.

The assailants then shot him in the head from close range before fleeing the scene. Bairagi died on the spot, the daily reported.

“Bairagi was shot three times in the head and his throat was slit,” Monirampur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Rajiullah Khan was quoted as saying by the daily.

Khan said the motive behind the killing was not immediately known and that an investigation had been launched to identify those involved.

Police also said that four cases were registered against Bairagi across two police stations, though details of those cases were not immediately available. The killing is the latest in a series of violent incidents targeting members of Bangladesh’s Hindu community in recent weeks.

On January 3, Khokon Chandra Das (50) died after being brutally attacked, hacked and set on fire. On December 24, another Hindu man, Amrit Mondal, was lynched over alleged extortion in Rajbari town’s Pangsha upazila.

Earlier, on December 18, Dipu Chandra Das (25) was lynched by a mob and his body set on fire over alleged blasphemy in Mymensingh city.

In another incident on December 23, unidentified men set fire to the home of Qatar-based expatriate workers Shukh Shil and Anil Shil in the Raojan area on the outskirts of Chattogram, though the occupants managed to escape unharmed.