Murder of a Hindu Family in Bangladesh Given False Communal Spin

The accused was identified as Rajiv Kumar Bhowmik, who is the nephew of the deceased.

Fact-Check: The Hindu family was killed by their nephew. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

A set of four graphic images of three corpses is being shared to claim that a Hindu family was allegedly killed by 'Islamists' in Bangladesh.

Who shared it?: This claim was also shared by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)'s Organiser magazine.

The claim was shared on 1 February on X (formerly Twitter)

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(We have not added the archives of this claim due to its graphic nature.)

Is this true?: The claim is false and there are no communal links in the murder.

• Bangladesh's news organisations reported that the three deceased were killed by a family member, identified as Rajiv Kumar Bhowmik.

• The local police informed the press that the accused killed his uncle's family over a financial dispute.

How did we find out?: We ran a keyword search in both English and Bengali using the names of the alleged deceased in the claim.

• We came across multiple news reports by Bangladeshi media outlets.

• According to a report by the Dhaka Tribune from 30 January, bodies of three members of a family were recovered from their house on the day in Sirajganj, Bangladesh.

• The deceased were identified as Bikash Sarkar, his wife Swarna Rani Sarkar, and their daughter Paramita Sarker alias Tushi. These are the same names mentioned in the viral claim.

What happened?: Prothomalo reported on 31 January that the name of the accused is Rajiv Kumar Bhowmik, who is the nephew of the deceased.

Since the deceased and the accused are from the same family, the communal angle given to the incident can be ruled out.

• Rajiv has now been arrested by the Sirajganj police.

• During the interrogation, he revealed the reason behind the triple murder.

• After receiving a business capital of 20 lakh takas from his uncle, Rajiv repaid about 26 lakh takas, along with business dividends.

• However, his uncle demanded an additional 35 lakh takas earned from the business, pressuring him to give him the amount within a week.

• The deceased went on to scold Rajiv's mother. Frustrated by this, Rajiv planned to kill Bikash and his entire family.

This page has been translated from Bengali to English. 

(Source: Prothomalo/Screenshot)

Police's statement: Upon conducting a keyword search in Bengali on YouTube, we came across a video by Channel i News from 31 January, which showed a press conference by the police.

• Speaking in Bengali, Sirajganj Superintendent of Police Arifur Rahman Mandal briefed the press and said that the cause of the murder was over "financial transactions."

• The accused's primary target was his "mama" (uncle), but after not finding him at his place, Bhowmik proceeded to kill his cousin and his aunt. His uncle was also killed after he returned.

• The police also recovered a rod, which was the murder weapon. It was thrown into a lake after the act.

• The police concluded and said, "After compiling all manual and digital evidence alongside his testimony, we have concluded that Rajiv has committed the murders."

• None of the news reports discussed a communal angle in this case. Even the police did not mention anything about any communal tensions.

• The Quint has also reached out to the Sirajganj police for further inputs and the story will be updated once the response comes.

Conclusion: Clearly, the murder of a Hindu family by their own relative has been given a false communal angle.

(With inputs from Ribhu Chatterjee.)

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