A Hindu man was crushed to death in Bangladesh after attempting to stop a vehicle from fleeing a petrol pump without paying for fuel, police said, marking the latest incident in a series of violent attacks targeting Hindus in the country.
The incident occurred on Friday in Rajbari district, where the victim, identified as 30-year-old Ripon Saha, was working at Karim Filling Station in Goalanda Mor, according to The Daily Star, citing police officials.
“We will file a murder case. The worker stood in front of the car after they refused to pay for fuel, and they ran him over before fleeing,” Rajbari Sadar Police chief Khondakar Ziaur Rahman was quoted as saying by news portal bdnews24.com.
Police and eyewitnesses said a black SUV arrived at the filling station around 4:30 am on Friday and took fuel worth about Tk 5,000 (approximately INR 3,710). When the driver tried to leave without paying, Saha attempted to block the vehicle, which allegedly ran him over and sped away, killing him on the spot.
Police later seized the vehicle and arrested its owner, Abul Hashem alias Sujan, 55, and the driver, Kamal Hossain, 43. Hashem, a contractor by profession, is a former treasurer of the Rajbari district Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a former president of the district Jubo Dal, police said.
According to the 2022 census, Bangladesh’s Hindu population stands at approximately 13.13 million, accounting for about 7.95% of the country’s total population.
Earlier this month, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) alleged that communal violence is increasing at an alarming rate as the general elections approach, with parliamentary polls scheduled for February 12. The forum claimed the violence is aimed at preventing minority voters from casting ballots for candidates of their choice and said it recorded 51 incidents of communal violence in December 2025 alone.
Among the reported incidents, a 42-year-old jeweller, Prantosh Sarkar, was shot dead at a school field in Narshingdi on December 2. A 25-year-old garment factory worker, Dipu Chandra Das, was lynched over alleged blasphemy in Mymensingh city on December 18, after which his body was set on fire.
Another Hindu man, Amrit Mondal, was lynched over alleged extortion in Rajbari town’s Pangsha upazila on December 24. Khokon Chandra Das, 50, was brutally attacked, hacked and set on fire on the night of December 31 while returning home after closing his shop, and died in hospital on January 3.
On January 5, a 40-year-old grocery shop owner, Moni Chakraborty, was murdered with a sharp weapon at Charsindhur Bazar in Palash Upazila, while Rana Pratap Bairagi, a 38-year-old ice factory owner and acting editor of Dainik BD Khabar, was fatally shot in the head in Jessore district.
On January 6, a 25-year-old man, Mithun Sarkar, died after jumping into a canal while fleeing a mob that accused him of theft in Naogaon district. Earlier, on December 7, Liberation War veteran and retired primary school headmaster Jogesh Chandra Roy, 70, and his wife Shubarna Roy were found murdered in their home in Rangpur’s Taraganj area, their blood-stained bodies discovered on the kitchen floor.
