Another Hindu man, a grocery shop owner, was reportedly killed after being attacked with sharp weapons in Narsingdi, on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, on Monday night.
The deceased has been identified as 40-year-old Sarat Chakraborty Mani. According to a report by Weekly Blitz, he was killed by extremist religious fundamentalists. The incident was also reported by NDTV. His death occurred on the same day as the killing of Hindu journalist Rana Pratap Bairagi, who was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Jessore district of the Khulna division.
Local residents said Sarat was at his grocery shop in Charsindur Bazaar in the Palash Upazila area of Narsingdi when unidentified attackers suddenly assaulted him with sharp weapons, leaving him critically injured. He was rushed to a hospital by locals but succumbed to his injuries while being taken for treatment.
Sarat is survived by his wife, Antara Mukherjee, and their 12-year-old son, Abhik Chakraborty. He had previously worked in South Korea and returned to Bangladesh a few years ago. According to reports, he later built a house in the Brahmandi area of Narsingdi, where he lived with his family.
A family member reportedly said that Sarat lived a simple life and had no known disputes with anyone. He had recently expressed concern about the situation in Bangladesh. In a Facebook post dated December 19, he wrote in Bangla: “So much fire, so much violence in the valley of death… my homeland.”
Neighbours described Sarat as a calm, humane, and socially responsible individual with no enemies. One neighbour was quoted as saying that there appeared to be only one possible motive for the killing — his religious identity as a Hindu.
Social activist Bappaditya Basu condemned the killing, telling Weekly Blitz that “before the blood of one Hindu in Bangladesh has even dried, another Hindu is being killed,” referring to the earlier murder of journalist Rana Pratap Bairagi. Basu warned that if such incidents continued, “there will be no existence of Hindus left in Bangladesh within a few years.”
He further accused the Mohammad Yunus-led government of backing attacks on Hindus, alleging that being Hindu had become a reason for targeted killings in what he described as a planned genocide or ethnic cleansing.
According to Basu, extremist Islamists had allegedly demanded a large sum of money from Sarat two days before his murder, insisting he pay jizya to continue living in Bangladesh. Basu claimed the extremists threatened to kidnap Sarat’s wife if he approached the police and allegedly told him not to resist, saying that even India or Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be able to stop the collection of jizya.
Basu alleged that the same extremist group was responsible for Sarat Chakraborty Mani’s murder.
As of now, no official statement has been released by the police or other law enforcement authorities regarding the incident.
