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Who was Rana Pratap Bairagi, Hindu businessman and journalist shot dead in Bangladesh?
It was not immediately clear if there was a communal angle to the killing, but it comes against the backdrop of multiple crimes against Hindus in the country.
A 38-year-old Hindu businessman, who was also the acting editor of a local newspaper, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Bangladesh’s Jashore region on Monday evening. The attackers shot him in the head several times and escaped from the area soon after the attack, police said.
It was not immediately clear if there was a communal angle to the killing, but it comes against the backdrop of multiple crimes against Hindus in the Muslim-majority country. In the past three weeks, five people from Bangladesh’s Hindu community, including this case, have been killed in separate violent incidents.
The 38-year-old deceased has been identified as Rana Pratap Bairagi, local newspaper The Daily Star reported.
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Who was Rana Pratap Bairagi?
A resident of Arua village in Keshabpur upazila of Jessore, Bairagi owned an ice-making factory in Kopaliya Bazar in Monirampur, police said.
He also worked as the acting editor of a local newspaper, ‘Dainik BD Khabar’, published from Narail, Prothom Alo reported.
The businessman had one case registered against him at Abhaynagar police station and three cases at Keshabpur police station, police said. Further details of these cases were not available at the time.
How Rana Pratap was killed by assailants
On Monday, he was at his ice factory in Kopalia market when, at around 5:45 pm, when three attackers arrived on a motorcycle.
They called him out of the factory and took him to an alley on the western side of the market.
The attackers then shot him in the head from close range and fled the area immediately. He died at the spot, the report said.
Soon after the shooting, fear and panic spread across the Kopalia market and nearby areas.
A witness told The Daily Star that the attackers came on a motorcycle, called Rana out of his factory, and led him to a nearby alley. “Following a brief altercation, they fired several shots at him, killing him on the spot," the witness said.
Monirampur police station officer-in-charge (OC) Md Raziullah Khan said the motive behind the killing is still unclear. He added that an investigation is underway to identify those involved, and legal action is being taken in the matter.
