Hindu van driver murdered in Khulna in brutal throat-slit attack amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a94ca | Location : Khulna District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Fri, 3 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a94ca

Khulna District, Bangladesh

3 July, 2026

Hindu van driver murdered in Khulna in brutal throat-slit attack amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Molladangga area of Gazirhat Union in Dighalia Upazila of Khulna district, Bangladesh, a Hindu van driver, Samir Bhatt (40), was killed after his throat was slit by unknown miscreants. The incident occurred at around 9 p.m. on Saturday, 4 July 2026. The deceased, Samir Bhatt, was the son of Robin Bhatt of Ketla village in Gazirhat Union of Dighalia Upazila. He worked as a van driver. According to local sources, at around 9 p.m. on Saturday, Samir Bhatt was travelling towards Barasat along the Molladangga road with a few passengers in his van. On the way, miscreants posing as passengers attacked him with a sharp weapon, slit his throat, inflicted grievous injuries, abandoned him by the roadside, and fled the scene. Hearing Samir's groans, residents rushed to the spot and attempted to rescue him in a severely bloodied condition. However, due to the severity of his injuries, he died at the scene. The deceased's van was recovered a short distance from the scene of the incident. Police initially suspected that the miscreants had killed Samir Bhatt while attempting to snatch his van. However, the exact motive remained under investigation. The incident caused grief and concern throughout the area. Police visited the crime scene, and operations remained underway to identify and arrest those responsible. Law enforcement authorities stated that the precise motive behind the murder would be determined upon completion of the investigation. The van driver was killed amid an ongoing escalation of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, which had 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 in 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 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 following 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 whose body was subsequently set ablaze by a Muslim mob following false blasphemy allegations. The Hinduphobia Tracker documented 51 incidents of anti-Hindu violence during the period following Hadi's death alone. Such incidents underscored 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 had been displayed in public spaces, signalling an alarming normalisation of genocidal rhetoric. When combined with acts of arson, vandalism, assault, and targeted intimidation, these developments suggested a coordinated environment of hostility aimed at terrorising the Hindu community and reinforcing majoritarian dominance. The third phase of violence was unleashed following the 13th National Parliamentary Election in 2026. Within days of the announcement of the 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 added to the 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 the 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 hate crimes. Under this category, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. This case was included in the Hinduphobia Tracker because a Hindu man was murdered during a period of sustained and escalating anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh. The religious trigger lay in the broader environment in which Hindus had repeatedly been subjected to targeted attacks, killings, intimidation, and displacement following successive waves of communal unrest. In such a context, every attack against a Hindu victim required examination not in isolation but against the prevailing pattern of persecution directed at the Hindu minority. While some may argue that the available details point towards extortion, criminal activity, or local disputes and do not explicitly establish a religious motive, the broader context of anti-Hindu hostility, persecution, and insecurity in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods marked by sustained violence, intimidation, land-grabbing, extortion, 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 immediate reports attribute the violence to criminal or financial motives and do not record an explicit religious motive. In such circumstances, the vulnerability of Hindu communities and the normalisation of hostility towards religious minorities can contribute to attacks occurring without perpetrators openly expressing religious intent. For the purpose of documenting the 2024–2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution following 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.