New Delhi/Dhaka:A Hindu gas station worker was crushed to death in Bangladesh after he tried to stop a vehicle from leaving a gas station without paying, police said.
It has not been confirmed whether the incident, which took place in Rajbari district on Friday, is related to the recent wave of violence targeting Hindus in Bangladesh.
The victim has been identified as 30-year-old Ripon Saha, The Daily Star reported on Saturday, citing police officials.
At the time of the incident, he was working at the Karim gas station in Goalanda Mor.
“We’re going to file a case of murder. The worker was standing in front of the car after they refused to pay for the fuel and they ran him over before running away.” Rajbari Sadar Police Chief Khondakar Ziaur Rahman said this according to news portal bdnews24.com.
According to police and eyewitnesses, a black SUV reached the gas station around 4:30 am on Friday and took fuel worth about Tk 5,000 (approximately INR 3,710). When the driver tried to drive away without paying, Saha tried to block the vehicle. A car allegedly ran him over and drove off, killing him on the spot.
Another worker, Jakir Hossain, also ran after them and later found Ripon’s body on the highway with severe head and facial injuries, the report said.
Police later impounded the vehicle and arrested its owner Abul Hashem alias Sujan (55) and its driver Kamal Hossain (43).
Hashem, a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) treasurer of Rajbari district and former Jubo Dal district president, is a contractor by profession, police said.
When asked who was driving at the time of the incident, the officer said the incident was under investigation, the report said.
According to the 2022 census, the Hindu population in Bangladesh is approximately 13.13 million, representing about 7.95 percent of the country’s total population.
Earlier this month, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) said in a statement that communal violence in the country is increasing at an alarming rate as the general election date approaches. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 12.
The forum claimed that the aim of the violence was to prevent minority voters from casting their votes for candidates of their choice.
The council said it recorded 51 incidents of communal violence in December 2025 alone.
A 42-year-old jeweller, identified as Prantosh Sarkar, was shot dead by miscreants in a school playground in Narshingdi on December 2.
A 25-year-old garment factory worker, identified as Dipu Chandra Das, was lynched to death by a mob in Mymensingh on December 18 for alleged blasphemy. His body was then set on fire.
Another Hindu man, identified as Amrit Mondal, was lynched on December 24 for alleged extortion in Rajbari town of Pangsha upazila.
Khokon Chandra Das, 50, was brutally attacked, hacked and set on fire by miscreants while returning home after closing his shop on the night of December 31. He died in hospital three days later, on January 3.
A 40-year-old grocery store owner, identified as Moni Chakraborty, was murdered by unidentified assailants who hit him with a sharp weapon on the night of January 5 at Charsindhur Bazar in Palash Upazila.
Rana Pratap Bairagi, a 38-year-old ice factory owner who was also the acting editor of a newspaper named ‘Dainik BD Khabar’ published from Narail, was fatally shot in the head by unidentified assailants on January 5 in Jessore district.
A 25-year-old man, identified as Mithun Sarkar, died on January 6 after he jumped into a canal to escape a mob that accused him of theft in Naogaon district.
Liberation war veteran and former primary school principal Jogesh Chandra Roy (70) and his wife Shubarna Roy were killed in Taraganj area of Rangpur on December 7. Their blood-stained bodies were found on the kitchen floor of their home.