Hindu priest abducted and murdered by Muslim man in Cox's Bazar amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a7fe0 | Location : Cox's Bazar District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sat, 18 April, 2026

Case ID : 30a7fe0

Cox's Bazar District, Bangladesh

18 April, 2026

Hindu priest abducted and murdered by Muslim man in Cox's Bazar amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, a 35-year-old Hindu priest, Nayan Das, was abducted and murdered by a Muslim man named Abdur Rahim. The victim had gone missing before he was murdered, and his dead body was found half-burnt and hanging from a tree in a remote mountainous area. According to media reports, the victim, Nayan Das, was a servant (Sebayet) at the Sri Sri Sarvajanin Shiv Kali Temple in Khurushkul, Sadar Upazila, Cox's Bazar. He was abducted from the temple premises at around 9 pm on 19 April 2026 by unidentified individuals. He went missing for three days, and his body was later found hanging from a tree in the deep mountain forests of the East Hamzar Deil area of Khurushkul on 22 April 2026. According to his family members, unknown individuals lured him away on the night of 19 April 2026, and he never returned. After an extensive search, the family filed a police complaint on Monday, 20 April 2026. Following this, on the afternoon of 22 April 2026, while locals continued searching the hilly area behind the temple, they discovered his body. Police arrived at the scene upon receiving the information and took possession of his dead body. Nayan Das was found with a scarf wrapped around his neck, raising suspicions of murder. Following the incident, Cox's Bazar Sadar Police launched an investigation into Nayan Das's disappearance and the subsequent recovery of his body. Based on information received during the investigation, police identified Abdur Rahim, who was hiding in the Hamzar Deil area of Khurushkul. On Friday, 7 August 2026, Cox's Bazar Sadar Police arrested Abdur Rahim during a special operation in the Hamzar Deil area. Police subsequently interrogated him before producing him before the Cox's Bazar District Court on the afternoon of Saturday, 8 August. The court ordered him to be sent to jail. The arrest marked a significant development in the case, with Abdur Rahim identified by police as the person involved in the murder of Nayan Das. This incident is part of an ongoing pattern of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, where the community has repeatedly faced persecution and disruptions to their religious festivals and gatherings. Such attacks on Hindu minorities have become increasingly frequent and intensified since August 2024. This escalation of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh has unfolded in three distinct phases: first, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024; second, after the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi in December 2025; and third, in the immediate aftermath of the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026. Following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, multiple reports documented attacks on Hindu homes, temples, and religious institutions, alongside intimidation campaigns, arson, and mob assaults targeting minority neighbourhoods. The Hinduphobia tracker has recorded 336 such incidents against the Hindu minority, underscoring the scale and persistence of anti-Hindu violence during this period. A further escalation occurred following the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, a Muslim political activist and student leader known for his anti-Hindu and anti-India rhetoric. Hadi had been involved in political unrest after the fall of the Hasina government and was killed in Dhaka on 18 December 2025 during clashes. In the aftermath of his death, Hindu communities were blamed and subsequently targeted in retaliatory violence. Hindu homes were selectively set ablaze in multiple localities, forcing families to flee and leaving many displaced. The attacks appeared patterned rather than sporadic, with Muslim mobs focusing on Hindu neighbourhoods, properties, and religious symbols. Among the victims was Dipu Chandra Das, who was lynched to death and his body was set ablaze by a Muslim mob over false blasphemy allegations. The Hinduphobia tracker documented 51 incidents of anti-Hindu violence in the period following Hadi’s death alone. Such incidents underscore the vulnerability of the Hindu minority amid rising communal hostility and the weaponisation of religious accusations. Reports further indicated that posters and written materials calling for the extermination of Hindus were displayed in public spaces, signalling an alarming normalisation of genocidal rhetoric. When combined with acts of arson, vandalism, assault, and targeted intimidation, these developments suggest a coordinated environment of hostility aimed at terrorising the Hindu community and reinforcing majoritarian dominance. The third phase of violence was unleashed after the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026. Within days of the announcement of results, Hindu families in districts such as Noakhali, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Sylhet, Thakurgaon, and Dinajpur reported coordinated attacks involving arson, looting, assault, and vandalism of temples and homes. In several instances, Hindu homes were selectively targeted, looted, and families were threatened with displacement.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the Hinduphobia Tracker under the primary category- Attack resulting in death. The subcategory selected is- Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime. Under this category, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this case, a Hindu priest named Nayan Das was abducted and murdered by Muslim man, Abdur Rahim, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The 35-year-old victim was lured from his home, killed, and his body was found hanging from a tree in a remote hilly area, intensifying fear within the minority Hindu community. In the prevailing environment of anti-Hindu hostility in Bangladesh, this incident aligns with the wider pattern of violence affecting Hindus. While some may argue that the case details do not explicitly state a religious motive, the broader context of anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods of sustained violence against Hindus based on religious identity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption that attacks on Hindu victims are likely faith-targeted, even when the immediate report does not record a specific religious marker. In such periods, the normalisation of religious hostility and the dehumanisation of minorities can contribute to crimes against them without perpetrators openly stating a motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 to 2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution after the political exile of Sheikh Hasina, the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, and the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records such incidents as likely religiously motivated at the point of entry. If any case is later established through credible investigation or court findings to stem from motivations other than religious hostility, it will be revised or removed from the hate crime database. In this case, the brutality of the abduction, murder, and public display of the priest's body, found with a scarf around his neck, is consistent with the severity observed in other reported attacks on Hindu victims during this period and therefore supports the contextual classification of likely religious hostility, absent contrary evidence. The case is documented as likely involving faith targeting, given the victim’s identity as a Hindu priest and the surrounding pattern of persecution, while remaining open to revision if new facts emerge. The killing of Nayan Das must therefore be examined not in isolation but against this documented backdrop of repeated violent targeting of Hindu individuals across Bangladesh. The extreme violence deployed against him demonstrates how precarious the security of Hindu citizens has become. His murder aligns with a continuing pattern in which Hindu individuals who serve their communities face lethal consequences. Given the broader environment of sustained anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh, the case meets the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate crime database.