Dhaka: A Hindu businessman and four members of his family have gone missing in Bangladesh’s Chandpur district amid reports that he had received threats from unidentified people.
Pintu Das, who runs a shop and is engaged in lending money against gold jewellery, has been missing along with his wife and two teenage sons and another family member since August 20, news portal bdnews.Com reported, quoting police.
“I have learned that Pintu Das and four members of his family have been missing since August 20,” Chandpur Model Police Station officer-in-charge Foyez Ahmed said.
He said there are allegations that several people had not received back their gold after pledging it with Das, but added that the circumstances surrounding the family’s disappearance are being investigated.
The Chandpur chapter leader of the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (HBCUC) and Das’ cousin, Upama Dey, said he went missing from his rented house in the town along with his wife and their two sons, who are students of Class 10.
“We have heard that he received threats as he was under a burden with debt,” she said, adding that Das’ ancestral home is in southeastern Chattogram.
There have been renewed concerns over the safety of the Hindu minority community in Bangladesh following the killing of a retired Hindu schoolteacher and three members of his family in Rangpur last week.
Police have arrested two alleged drug addicts as prime suspects in connection with the killings of 65-year-old Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife Pritilata, 50, and their daughter and son at their home in Rangpur on Thursday last week.
The bodies were recovered from the locked house two days later.
According to police, the two suspects entered the rooftop of the family’s house to take drug yaba and killed the four after the teacher confronted them. The suspects later scattered the furniture to give it a feel of a robbery scene.
The police account has, however, faced questions from minority rights activists, relatives and local residents, prompting authorities to transfer the city police commissioner and several other fellow officers.
The probe was also transferred to the specialised detective branch.
“We are watching the developments. But it remains a big question how two alleged drug addicts could kill four people and give the house a look of a robbery scene in such a meticulous manner?,” a leader of the minority rights group Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council asked.
According to a report published by the US-based Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) in July, there were 824 verified incidents of human rights abuses, including 116 targeted killings, across 63 out of 64 districts in Bangladesh in the first half of 2026.
There were attacks on 142 temples, looting of 209 homes and businesses, and 73 instances of forced land grabbing against religious minorities, it said.
The group said 116 members of minority communities, mostly Hindus, were killed between June 6, 2025 and January 5, 2026 in Bangladesh in targeted murders and mob lynching, among others.
As per the 2022 census, of the approximately 169.8 million population in Bangladesh, Hindus make up about 7.95 per cent, numbering approximately 13.1 million people, followed by Buddhists at 0.61 per cent (around 1 million or fewer), Christians at 0.30 per cent (around 4,00,000 people) and others at 0.12 per cent (approx 2,03,760).
