A Muslim spiritual leader was hacked to death and shops and homes owned by Hindus were vandalised in two separate mob attacks in Kushtia and Rangpur districts of Bangladesh on Saturday, officials and media reports said. The incidents took place in western Kushtia, about 200 km west of Dhaka, and in northwestern Rangpur, roughly 300 km northwest of the capital.
In Rangpur, an angry mob attacked several Hindu households and businesses in the pre‑dawn hours after a local Muslim youth, identified as Rakib Hassan, was found murdered in the Daspara market area. Police described the vandalism as the work of a “third party” seeking to divert attention from the overnight killing. Prothom Alo reported that more than a hundred members of the Hindu community live in the market area.
Local reports and police said Hassan was allegedly killed by a drug peddler named Mohammad Momin following a prior dispute; reporters found Momin’s house vacant as he went into hiding. Hassan’s mother, Nur Jahan Begum, told reporters, “We have no issues with them (Hindus).” Rangpur’s police commissioner, Mohammad Majid Ali, said authorities are tracking down the real killers and have identified those who vandalised Hindu properties.
In the second attack, police and media said assailants killed schoolteacher and spiritual figure Shamim Reza Jahangir in Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia and critically wounded at least seven of his followers. The mob also set fire to Jahangir’s sanctuary, or darbar, amid allegations that he had insulted Islam. Officer‑in‑charge Arifur Rahman said, “The local miscreants killed Jahangir. His body is being sent to Kushtia General Hospital morgue for an autopsy.”
Officials deployed armed police and units of the elite anti‑crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to the Kushtia scene to prevent further violence. Local journalists noted that police had detained Jahangir briefly in May 2021 after hard‑line Islamist complaints about his activities; he was later released by court order, and police did not provide further details about those allegations.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said on April 9 that there had been 133 incidents of communal violence between January 1 and March 31 this year. Authorities in both districts said investigations were ongoing, and further details were expected as police pursue suspects and assess damage to properties and places of worship.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mob-attacks-vandalises-hindu-households-businesses-in-bangladesh-11344690#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-04-11 23:51:00
