Hindu temple of Goddess Kali targeted for loot in Chattogram amidst continued persecution of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh
Chittagong District, Bangladesh 
13 July, 2026
Case Summary
In Padua village of Lohagara Upazila in Chattogram, Bangladesh, the Sri Sri Karunamayee Kali Temple was burgled by unidentified miscreants who broke open its donation box and looted the cash kept inside. The incident triggered concern and anger among the local Hindu community. The incident occurred late on 14 July 2026. The perpetrators scaled the temple wall and entered the premises. They broke open the door of the temple's toilet to gain access, locked the main entrance gate from the inside to prevent anyone from entering, and then broke open the temple's donation box before fleeing with the cash. The theft came to light on the morning of 15 July 2026, when temple workers arrived to prepare for the daily puja and discovered that the donation box had been broken. After local residents were informed, they gathered at the temple premises. A hammer and an iron cutting tool used during the burglary were found abandoned inside the temple compound. Some of the stolen money was also found scattered near the adjoining Padua Ward Government Primary School. Members of the local Hindu community strongly condemned the incident and demanded that those responsible be identified and brought to justice. They also called for enhanced security at temples and other Hindu places of worship and urged the authorities to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. Local residents called upon law enforcement agencies to conduct a thorough investigation and initiate appropriate legal action against the perpetrators. 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 18th 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 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 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 suggested 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 has been added to the tracker under the primary category - Attack on Hindu religious representations. Within this, the subcategory selected is - Attack on temples. In Hinduism, a temple is the abode of the Deity. The Deity in the Temple is consecrated, thereby, making it a real, breathing entity. Hindus believe that not just the Deity but the temple premises itself are sacred to Hindus since Hindus hold the faith that the entire Temple space is an amalgamation of the divine energy of the deity. Given the central significance of Temples in Hindu Dharma, any attack against a Hindu Temple or its peripheral premises is an attack on the faith itself and is born out of animosity towards the faith, of which, the Temple is a central tenet. Any manner of attack against a Temple and/or its premises would therefore be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. In this case, the Sri Sri Karunamayee Kali Temple in Bangladesh was targeted by unidentified miscreants who unlawfully entered the temple premises and looted it. The attack was directed against a Hindu place of worship during a period when Hindu temples and religious institutions across Bangladesh continued to face repeated incidents of vandalism, theft, desecration, and intimidation. The burglary affected not only the temple's financial resources but also a religious institution sustained through the voluntary offerings of Hindu devotees. The primary religious marker in this case was the targeting of a Hindu temple and, more specifically, the theft of money offered by devotees as religious donations. Hindu temples are sacred spaces where devotees perform daily worship, celebrate festivals, preserve religious traditions, and express their devotion through offerings made to the presiding deity. The Sri Sri Karunamayee Kali Temple is dedicated to Goddess Kali, one of the most revered deities in Hinduism, worshipped as the embodiment of divine power and the destroyer of evil. Donations placed in temple donation boxes are acts of religious devotion offered by worshippers to support the temple's maintenance, rituals, charitable activities, and religious functions. By scaling the temple wall, unlawfully entering the premises, and breaking open the donation box, the perpetrators targeted funds that had been voluntarily offered as part of Hindu religious practice. In a country where Hindus constitute a vulnerable religious minority and where Hindu temples have repeatedly been subjected to attacks, desecration, and theft, the deliberate targeting of temple donations carried significance beyond ordinary theft and reflected the continuing insecurity faced by Hindu religious institutions. The selection of a Hindu temple as the target ensured that the consequences of the crime extended beyond financial loss and directly affected a sacred institution central to the religious life of the local Hindu community. The deliberate manner in which the offence was executed further highlighted its seriousness. The perpetrators scaled the temple wall, broke open the door of the temple's toilet to gain access, locked the main entrance gate from the inside to prevent anyone from entering, and then broke open the temple's donation box before fleeing with the cash. They abandoned a hammer and an iron cutting tool inside the temple compound, indicating that they had arrived equipped to force entry and carry out the burglary. Such actions demonstrated planning and preparation rather than an opportunistic act of theft. The theft directly interfered with resources intended for the functioning and maintenance of a Hindu place of worship. The targeting of the Sri Sri Karunamayee Kali Temple must also be viewed within the wider environment of anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh. During a period marked by repeated attacks on Hindu temples, idol desecration, theft of temple property, vandalism of places of worship, and intimidation of Hindu communities, incidents involving Hindu religious institutions acquired significance beyond their immediate material consequences. Violations of temples belonging to a vulnerable religious minority created fear and insecurity among devotees and reinforced concerns regarding the safety of Hindu places of worship and the free exercise of religious practices. 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 2026 13th National Parliamentary Election, 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 judicial findings to have stemmed from motivations unrelated to religious hostility, it will be revised or removed from the hate crime database. The calculated intrusion into the Sri Sri Karunamayee Kali Temple and the theft of money offered by devotees collectively reflected the continuing vulnerability of Hindu religious institutions in Bangladesh. The incident compromised the sanctity and security of a Hindu place of worship and affected a temple sustained by the religious contributions of its devotees. It joined a growing number of documented cases in which Hindu temples had been subjected to attacks affecting their security, sanctity, and uninterrupted functioning during a period of sustained anti-Hindu hostility. Given Bangladesh's sustained anti-Hindu persecution environment, the deliberate targeting of a Hindu temple, the theft of devotees' religious offerings, and the broader pattern of attacks on Hindu places of worship, this case met the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database.
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Perpetrators Details
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