Bangladesh Hindu businessman, 62, hacked to death days before polls

A Hindu businessman was brutally killed in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district, days before the country heads to the polls, a local media report said on Tuesday (February 10, 2026). The incident has once again raised concerns over the safety of minorities in the neighbouring country. 

The 62-year-old victim, Susen Chandra Sarkar, was hacked to death inside his shop late on Monday night (February 9, 2026) at Bogar Bazar in Trishal Upazila. A resident of Southkanda village, Mr. Sarkar was the owner of Bhai Bhai Enterprise. 

Trishal police station officer-in-charge Muhammad Firoz Hossain told bdnews24.com that unidentified assailants hacked Sarkar with a sharp weapon inside his shop, left his body there, and pulled down the shutters before fleeing. 

Family members, who began searching for Sarkar after he failed to return home, opened the shop and found him lying in a pool of blood. He was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. 

“We have a rice business for a long time. No one had any enmity with us. The attackers took away several hundred thousand taka from the store after they brutally killed my father,” Mr. Sarkar’s son, Sujan Sarkar, said. He emanded that his father’s killers be identified quickly and given exemplary punishment. 

The killing is the latest in a series of violent incidents affecting Bangladesh’s minority communities in recent months. Tensions have been high since the killing of radical youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi in December, after which reports of communal attacks have increased. 

Last month, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council alleged that as the date of the general elections approaches, communal violence is increasing at an alarming rate in the country, stating that it had documented 51 incidents of communal violence in December 2025 alone.

Bangladesh is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on February 12, the first national election since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following mass protests in August 2024.

According to the 2022 census, Hindus number around 13.13 million in Bangladesh, making up approximately 7.95% of the country’s total population.