Three Hindus including temple priest kidnapped and beaten by Muslims in Bangladesh

Case Summary
Islamic extremists abducted three Hindus from the Hillview residential area in Chittagong district, Bangladesh. The victims have been identified as Rubel Rudra (42), Keshab Mitra Das (43), and Samir Das (45). While Rubel and Samir run laundry shops, Keshab serves as a priest at a Hindu temple. According to reports, four Islamic extremists—Bashir Ahmed Rana, Mohammed Jihad, Mohammed Arif, and Mohammed Emon alias Saddam—carried out the abduction and later demanded ransom from the victims’ families. The kidnappers seized Rubel Rudra and Samir Das from their shops on the morning and afternoon of Saturday, 25th January, respectively. In the evening, they abducted temple priest Keshab Mitra Das. The victims were assaulted and held captive on the fourth floor of an under-construction building. The abductors demanded a ransom of 9 lakh Taka in exchange for their release. Fortunately, the Chittagong police raided the building that night, successfully rescuing the three Hindus. The police also arrested the four extremists and recovered 12 sharp weapons and five motorcycles from their possession. The accused are linked to Chatra Dal, the student wing of the Islamist political party BNP. They are also known as followers of terrorist Saiful Islam, alias Burma Saiful. All four have a history of criminal activities, with multiple cases of theft, robbery, dacoity, and extortion registered against them across several police stations.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the category- Attack resulting in death. Under this, 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. When there is an ongoing ethnic cleansing based on religious identity, every crime in and of itself is assumed to be motivated by the same religious animosity even if there is a lack of specific religious marker in the immediate crime. During an ongoing ethnic cleansing, the dehumanisation of people based on their religious identity and the normalisation of religious hostility drives the crimes committed against them even when there is a lack of stated religious motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh, the Hinduphobia Tracker is assuming religious motivation ab initio. If a case is specifically and beyond reasonable doubt proven to be driven by motivations other than religious hostility, it will post-facto be removed from the hate crime database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
3
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 3
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 3
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 3
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0

Case Status
Unknown

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown