Moulvibazar/Dhaka: The body of a young Hindu tea garden worker was found bound and bloodied in northeast Bangladesh’s Moulvibazar district on Wednesday, marking the second fatal attack on a Hindu individual in as many days ahead of Thursday’s 13th parliamentary elections.
Police recovered the body of 28-year-old Ratan Shuvo Kar from Champara Tea Garden in Kamalganj upazila, about 200 km northeast of Dhaka. According to Kamalganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Awal, Kar’s hands and legs were tied with ropes, and his body bore visible injuries. Locals spotted the corpse around 10 a.m. and alerted authorities.
Ratan’s elder brother, Laxman Kar, said the family had been searching for him overnight. “This morning, we were informed that his body was lying in the garden. We went there and identified him. We do not know why he was killed,” he told reporters. The body was sent to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital for autopsy, while police have launched an investigation to identify the perpetrators.
Election Context and Rising Communal Violence
Some locals speculated about a possible connection to the upcoming elections, though authorities have not found any evidence linking the murder to the vote. Earlier this week, 62-year-old Hindu trader Susen Chandra Sarkar was hacked to death in his shop in Mymensingh’s Trishal upazila, adding to fears of targeted attacks against the Hindu minority.
Independent monitoring groups report at least 15 targeted killings of Hindus over the past 45 days, according to the South Asia Forum for Freedom of Religion Belief. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council warned that communal violence has surged as the elections approach, recording 51 incidents in December 2025 alone.
Bangladesh’s Hindu population is estimated at nearly 13.13 million, about 7.95% of the total population according to the 2022 census. The recent spate of attacks has intensified concerns about the safety of minority communities in the lead-up to the national polls.
