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Hindu businessman shot dead by unidentified men in Bangladesh, probe on
The victim was identified as 38-year-old Rana Pratap Bairagi, a resident of Arua village in Keshabpur upazila of Jessore district.
A Hindu businessman who also served as the acting editor of a newspaper was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Monday in Bangladesh’s Jessore district, local media reported.
The victim was identified as 38-year-old Rana Pratap Bairagi, a resident of Arua village in Keshabpur upazila of Jessore district in the Khulna Division, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reported.
It was not immediately clear if there was a communal angle to the killing, but it comes in the backdrop of multiple crimes against Hindus in the Muslim-majority country.
Bairagi owned an ice-making factory at Kopaliya Bazar in Monirampur and was also the acting editor of a newspaper titled ‘Dainik BD Khabar’, published from Narail, the report said.
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More about the shooting
The shooting took place around 5:45 pm at Kapalia Bazar, Additional Police Superintendent Abul Basar was quoted as saying by the bdnews24 news portal.
Citing police and local residents, Prothom Alo reported that three men riding a motorcycle called Bairagi out of his ice factory and took him to an alley in front of the Kapalia Clinic and Diagnostic Centre, located on the western side of Kapalia Bazar.
The assailants then shot him in the head from close range before fleeing the scene. He died on the spot.
“Bairagi was shot three times in the head and his throat was slit,” Monirampur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md. Rajiullah Khan was quoted as saying.
Khan added that the motive behind the murder was not yet known.
Police on the investigation
Police said an investigation has been launched to identify those responsible.
They also said four cases are registered against the deceased in two police stations, though details of these cases were not immediately available.
The killing is the latest in a series of violent incidents targeting members of the Hindu community.
On January 3, Khokon Chandra Das, 50, died after he was brutally attacked, hacked and set on fire. On December 24, another Hindu man, Amrit Mondal, was lynched over alleged extortion in Rajbari town’s Pangsha upazila.
Earlier, on December 18, Dipu Chandra Das, 25, was lynched by a mob and his body set on fire over alleged blasphemy in Mymensingh city.
In another incident, unidentified men set fire to the home of Qatar expatriate workers Shukh Shil and Anil Shil in the Raojan area on the outskirts of Chattogram on December 23. The residents, however, managed to escape unharmed.
