Before the Ballot, Targeted Plot: Hindu Trader Brutally Slain in Bangladesh

Sanjoy Kumar Barua

The brutal killing of a Hindu businessman in northern Bangladesh on Monday night has intensified domestic and international concern over the safety of religious minorities, coming just days before the country heads into national parliamentary elections amid heightened political uncertainty.

The victim, 62-year-old Sushen Chandra Sarkar, a rice trader, was murdered at around 11:00 p.m. on February 9 at the Bogar Bazar intersection in Mymensingh district, police said.

Sarkar, a resident of Dakshinkanda village, owned “Bhai Bhai Enterprise,” a long-running rice trading business that served surrounding rural communities.

According to police, unidentified assailants hacked Sarkar with a sharp weapon, left his body inside the shop, and pulled down the shutters before fleeing.

Police said the attackers targeted Sarkar with a sharp weapon, leaving him inside his shop, and fled the scene. Investigators are examining whether the killing was motivated by extremist or radical elements, though officials cautioned that the investigation is ongoing and all possibilities are being considered.

When Sarkar failed to return home late at night, family members went searching and eventually found him lying in a pool of blood inside the locked shop, police said.

He was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

“This was not just a murder, it was an execution,” said a local shopkeeper at Bogar Bazar, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security fears.

“Everyone here knew Sarkar as a quiet, hardworking man. After this killing, Hindu traders are terrified to keep their shops open at night.”

Sarkar’s son, Sujan Sarkar, said the family had no known disputes or enemies.

“We have been running a rice business for a long time. No one had any enmity with us,” he said.

He added that Sarkar’s body remains in the hospital morgue for post-mortem examination, while legal proceedings are underway.

We demand that my father’s killers be identified immediately and punished,” Sujan said.

The killing has heightened anxiety in Mymensingh district, where another Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was recently lynched by a mob and his body set on fire, according to local journalists, reinforcing fears of a worsening security environment for minorities.

A senior Hindu community leader in the district, who requested anonymity fearing reprisals, said the violence had created a climate of pervasive dread.

“People are afraid to speak openly, afraid to go to the police, afraid to demand justice,” the leader said. “Every killing sends a message that Hindu lives are not safe under the Yunus regime, which supports fanatics and hardliners.”

With Bangladesh scheduled to vote in national parliamentary elections on Thursday, the incidents have sharpened scrutiny of the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, which assumed office following the political transition in August 2024.

Observers say that persistent violence, intimidation, and forced displacement targeting Hindus have intensified under the Yunus regime, raising serious concerns about minority safety and the credibility of the electoral process.

“Elections cannot be called credible when entire communities are voting under fear,” said a senior lawyer from Dhaka, speaking anonymously.

“What we are seeing is a systematic pattern of intimidation under the Yunus regime, enabled by impunity and supported by fanatics and hardliners,”

Bangladesh has witnessed thousands of attacks against religious minorities since August 2024, according to rights groups and local community leaders.

These include murders, arson attacks, temple desecration, forced evictions, and land seizures, often with limited or delayed legal redress.

Activists say blasphemy accusations—frequently unsubstantiated—have increasingly been weaponized to incite mob violence, justify arrests, and destroy Hindu homes and businesses, exacerbating communal polarization.

“In many cases, a single accusation is enough to mobilize a mob,” said a minority rights defender who asked not to be named. “The damage is done long before the truth is established—if it ever is.”

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and other monitoring bodies have reported a steady rise in intimidation, harassment, and violence against Hindu communities throughout 2025, cautioning that Bangladesh risks undermining its constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.

Police said investigations into Sarkar’s murder are ongoing and that efforts are underway to identify and arrest the perpetrators.

No arrests had been announced as of Tuesday.

As Bangladesh approaches the polls, the killing of Sushen Chandra Sarkar has become a grim emblem of the growing concerns over the security of minority communities and the state of secularism, highlighting the urgent need to protect the lives and rights of vulnerable groups.