Hindu youth murdered in Naogaon amidst large-scale anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh

Case ID : d327211 | Location : Naogaon District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sat, 10 January, 2026

Case ID : d327211

Naogaon District, Bangladesh

10 January, 2026

Hindu youth murdered in Naogaon amidst large-scale anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Naogaon district of Bangladesh, a Hindu youth named Abhi was found dead after being missing for nearly a week. His body was found stuffed into a sack with his hands, feet, and mouth tied, indicating that he was murdered. According to reports, the victim was a fourth-year honours student in the Management Department at Naogaon Government College and the eldest son of Ramesh Chandra, a resident of Santahar in Adamdighi upazila of Bogura district. Abhi left his home on 11 January 2026 following an argument, after which he went missing. The victim's family searched extensively for him at relatives’ houses, among friends, and at other places he was known to visit. They subsequently lodged a general diary at Adamdighi police station when no information about him emerged. On 17 January 2026, local residents noticed a body floating in the river near the Kalitala crematorium in Naogaon city and informed the authorities. Images of the recovered body circulated on social media, after which Abhi’s family reached the riverbank and identified him by the clothes he had been wearing at the time he left home. The body was found stuffed inside a sack, with his hands, feet, and mouth tied, clearly indicating that he had been murdered. The recovery caused immense distress to the family, with his father breaking down upon seeing his son’s body. Naogaon Sadar Police Station confirmed that the body was sent for post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death. Local residents raised serious concerns regarding the circumstances of the killing, particularly in light of the manner in which the body was recovered. As of the date of writing this report, the investigation remained ongoing. A fresh wave of anti-Hindu violence prevailed across Bangladesh following the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi. This escalation occurred against the backdrop of ongoing anti-Hindu violence that had persisted since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024, during which Hindu homes, temples, and religious spaces were repeatedly attacked, and the Hindu community faced intimidation, arson, and mob attacks. In the aftermath of Hadi’s death, Hindu homes were selectively targeted and set ablaze in multiple localities by Muslim mobs, forcing families to flee and rendering many homeless. The violence was not sporadic but patterned, with Muslim mobs targeting Hindu neighbourhoods, properties, and religious symbols with impunity. One of the many victims of this wave of violence was a Hindu man named Dipu Chandra Das, who was brutally lynched by a Muslim mob over false allegations of blasphemy. Such targeting of innocent Hindus over fabricated charges illustrated the vulnerability of the Hindu minority under conditions of rising communal hostility. Posters and written materials calling for the extermination of Hindus were displayed in public spaces, signalling an alarming normalisation of genocidal rhetoric. Combined with acts of physical violence, arson, and vandalism, these developments demonstrated a coordinated campaign designed to terrorise the Hindu community and assert Islamic dominance. Notably, Sharif Osman Bin Hadi was a Muslim political activist and student leader known for his anti-Hindu and anti-India stance. He was actively involved in the political unrest that followed the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government and was killed in Dhaka in December 2025 during clashes, after which Hindus were blamed and subsequently targeted.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Attack resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category 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. Here, a Hindu college student named Abhi was found dead after being missing for nearly a week, with his body recovered from a river in Naogaon district. The body was found stuffed inside a sack, with his hands, feet, and mouth tied, indicating extreme violence and deliberate killing. The recovery of his bound body under such circumstances placed the incident well beyond the scope of an accidental death and pointed towards targeted brutality. 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 death of Sharif Osman Hadi, 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 extreme brutality inflicted on the victim and the manner of killing, binding the victim, placing the body inside a sack, and disposing of it in a river, was consistent with the extreme brutality observed in other reported attacks on Hindu victims during this period. This level of violence supported the contextual classification of likely religious hostility in the absence of contrary evidence. The case is documented as likely involving faith targeting, given the victim’s identity and the surrounding pattern of persecution, while remaining open to revision if new facts emerge. Notably, this killing occurred amid a series of violent incidents against Hindus in Bangladesh, including mob violence, false blasphemy accusations, and unexplained deaths. When viewed alongside other contemporary cases, the death of Abhi was recorded as part of a broader cycle of violence affecting Hindus, reinforcing the application of contextual presumption used by the Hinduphobia Tracker during this period. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. Therefore, the date of the incident has been selected as 11 January 2026, the date on which the victim went missing.