Elderly Hindu man murdered by unidentified people in Bangladesh amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus

Case ID : d327a58 | Location : Chittagong District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Wed, 25 February, 2026

Case ID : d327a58

Chittagong District, Bangladesh

25 February, 2026

Elderly Hindu man murdered by unidentified people in Bangladesh amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Chandanaish Upazila of Chattogram, Bangladesh, a 70‑year‑old Hindu man named Chandan Kumar Dey was shot dead by unidentified robbers. The incident took place around 4:45 am on 26 February 2026 in Badrupura Hindupada of Ward Number 1 of Chandanaish Municipality. According to local sources, in the early hours of the morning, an armed gang of five to ten robbers entered the area in a microbus. They first raided a neighbouring cowshed and loaded two cows onto a truck. Later, they cut through the tin wall of Chandan Kumar Dey’s cowshed and entered inside, attempting to take out the cattle. When Chandan Dey realised what was happening and tried to resist, the robbers threatened him not to come out of the house. The robbers dragged three cows from his cowshed and loaded them into the vehicle. Hearing the sound of the vehicle leaving, Chandan Dey came outside and saw that two robbers were still around the cowshed. When he tried to gather people by shouting, the robbers fired at him in front of his wife. He died on the spot after being shot. The robbers then quickly fled the area. Upon receiving the news, police arrived at the scene and recovered the body, sending it to the morgue of Chattogram Medical College Hospital for autopsy. It was known that the victim’s family was preparing to file a complaint. The incident created extreme panic and anger among local Hindu residents. They demanded the swift arrest and exemplary punishment of those involved. Local Councillor Md. Shahed confirmed the truth of the incident. Officer‑in‑Charge of Chandanaish Police Station, Mohammad Ilyas Khan, also confirmed the incident. He said an inquest report had been prepared on the body. Necessary legal action would be taken based on the complaint of the victim’s family. A fresh wave of anti-Hindu violence followed 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 by Muslims. 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 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. This case qualifies as a hate crime in the context of the escalating vulnerability of Hindus in Bangladesh, where even routine criminal acts such as robbery and theft increasingly unfold within an atmosphere of communal hostility. 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 their motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 to 2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution after the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026 and 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. Religious hostility toward Hindus in Bangladesh has reached a level where even property crimes frequently escalate into deadly outcomes when the victims are Hindu. Across multiple documented incidents, small triggers have resulted in arson, mob attacks, killings, and forced displacement of Hindu families. This pattern demonstrates a climate in which Hindu lives are treated as expendable by violent actors who operate with the belief that consequences will be minimal. The repeated targeting of Hindu localities reinforces the perception that the minority community is unprotected and vulnerable. The killing of Chandan Kumar Dey aligns with this entrenched pattern. Hindu neighbourhoods have been repeatedly subjected to cattle theft, land encroachment, arson, and intimidation. When an elderly Hindu man is shot dead merely for stepping outside his home and attempting to raise an alarm, it underscores how minimal the threshold for lethal violence has become in attacks involving Hindu victims. The shooting in front of his spouse further amplified the psychological terror directed at the wider Hindu community. Given the sustained pattern of anti-Hindu targeting across Bangladesh, including repeated killings and violent intimidation in Hindu neighbourhoods, this incident meets the criteria for inclusion in the tracker as part of the continuing pattern of religiously vulnerable minority targeting.