Hostility against minorities: Hindu man Khokan Das dies during treatment after being set on fire in Bangladesh

New Delhi: A Hindu man who was critically injured in a mob attack in Bangladesh has died during treatment, further fuelling fear among the country's minority Hindu community.

The victim, identified as 50-year-old trader Khokon Chandra Das, succumbed to his injuries in hospital after being attacked a few days ago. With his death, the number of Hindus killed in recent attacks in Bangladesh has risen to four. Earlier, Deepu Das, Amrit Mandal and Bijendra Biswas were killed in separate incidents.

Das ran a medicine shop and a mobile banking business at Kyurbanga market. The attack took place when he was returning home late at night after closing his shop and was travelling in an autorickshaw. According to accounts, the attackers stopped the vehicle, assaulted him with sharp weapons, poured petrol over him and set him on fire. In an attempt to save himself, Das jumped into a nearby pond while engulfed in flames. He was rushed to hospital by locals but later died due to severe burn injuries.

Reacting to the incident, the West Bengal BJP said in a post on X that after Deepu Chandra Das, Khokon Das had also been attacked and set on fire by a mob, and that he died of his injuries on Friday morning. The party linked the incident to what it described as attacks on Bengali Hindus in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, citing a mob killing in Murshidabad last year.

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Das's wife, Seema Das, said her husband had no known enemies and expressed anguish over not knowing the motive behind the attack. "We have no dispute with anyone on any issue. We don't understand why my husband was suddenly targeted," she told NDTV.

India has several times voiced grave concern over the "unremitting hostility" against minorities in Bangladesh, and asserted that it is keeping a close watch on the ongoing developments in its neighbourhood.