Hindu man murdered, his dead body dumped near a mosque in Chattogram amidst rising attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a8c92 | Location : Chittagong Division, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Thu, 26 March, 2026

Case ID : 30a8c92

Chittagong Division, Bangladesh

26 March, 2026

Hindu man murdered, his dead body dumped near a mosque in Chattogram amidst rising attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Chattogram’s Banshkhali Upazila, in Bangladesh, a Hindu man, identified as Swapan Das (50), was murdered and his body was dumped near a mosque by unidentified assailants. The deceased victim's body was recovered nearly 24 hours after he was reported missing. According to the victim's family members, Swapan Das, a resident of Purba Denga Para village in Patiya Upazila, went missing on Friday, March 27, 2026, at around 10:00 AM from the Chambal Bazar area of Banshkhali. Following his disappearance, his relatives and local residents conducted extensive searches across different areas but were unable to trace his whereabouts. On the afternoon of Saturday, March 28, 2026, his lifeless body was discovered beside a mosque in Banshkhali. Upon finding the body, locals gathered at the spot and immediately informed the police. The incident triggered concern and anxiety among local Hindu residents. Many stated that the death should not be treated as a routine incident and had called for a thorough investigation to determine the circumstances and cause behind his death. The Hindu residents urged the authorities to conduct a prompt, impartial, and transparent investigation and to take appropriate legal action based on the findings. The incident also raised broader concerns regarding the safety and security of Hindus in the area, with community members calling for accountability and measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. This attack comes at a time when Hindus are facing a fresh wave of attacks in Bangladesh following the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026 in Bangladesh, reinforcing a recurring pattern of post-poll violence targeting Hindu minorities. 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. This escalation of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh 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. This electoral violence unfolded against the broader backdrop of sustained anti-Hindu hostility that had persisted since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024. During that period, 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.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is 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, where seven ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they were triggered by the kalava on his wrist and the tilak on his forehead. In that case, the 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 solely because of their religious identity, are documented as hate crimes. Under this category, cases where the attack resulted in the death of the Hindu victim are recorded. In this case, a Hindu man named Swapan Das (50), a resident of Purba Denga Para village under Patiya Upazila, went missing from the Chambal Bazar area of Banshkhali in Chattogram, Bangladesh. Nearly 24 hours later, his lifeless body was recovered beside a mosque in Banshkhali. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance and subsequent death remain unclear, and local residents have demanded a thorough investigation into the incident. While some may argue that the available details do not explicitly establish a religious motive, the broader context of anti-Hindu hostility and persecution in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods marked by sustained violence, intimidation, and targeting of Hindus based on their religious identity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption that attacks on Hindu victims may be faith-targeted, even when the immediate reports do not record an explicit religious motive. In such circumstances, the normalisation of hostility towards religious minorities can contribute to crimes against them without perpetrators openly stating their intentions. For the purpose of documenting the continuing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and the pattern of anti-Hindu violence witnessed between 2024 and 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records such incidents as likely religiously motivated at the point of entry. If subsequent investigations, court proceedings, or credible evidence establish that the crime stemmed from motives unrelated to religious hostility, the classification will be revised or removed accordingly. A significant contextual marker in this case is that the body of the Hindu victim was discovered dumped beside a mosque. While the recovery of a body near a mosque does not by itself establish culpability or motive, the location acquires significance when viewed against the backdrop of repeated incidents of violence and intimidation targeting Hindus in Bangladesh. The dumping of the body adjacent to a prominent Islamic religious site raises legitimate questions about the circumstances of the murder and warrants careful scrutiny by investigators. Such religious markers surrounding the murder of a Hindu victim cannot be ignored when assessing the possibility of faith-based targeting, particularly in an environment where Hindus continue to face disproportionate hostility, violence and insecurity. This murder must therefore be examined not in isolation but within the wider pattern of attacks, intimidation, and persecution faced by Hindus in Bangladesh. Given the victim's Hindu identity, the suspicious circumstances surrounding his disappearance and murder, the discovery of his body beside a mosque, and the prevailing climate of anti-Hindu hostility, this case is being documented as a likely instance of religiously motivated targeting pending further investigation. Therefore, this case is added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.