Opposition Youth Leader Hacked to Death Over Land Dispute

A local political activist was hacked to death in Bogra over a longstanding family land dispute on Wednesday night, 23 July. The victim, 32-year-old Atiqur Rahman Mondal Sagar, was attacked by his cousins at his in-laws’ residence in Chalitabari Dakshinpara village, under Bogra Sadar Upazila.

Sagar was the former convenor of the Shakharia Union unit of the Jatiyatabadi Sechhasebak Dal, the volunteer wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He was the son of Shahadat Mondal from Panchbaria village. Police Inspector Mahfuz Alam confirmed that Sagar faced six pending criminal charges, including attempted murder, drug offences, and firearms violations. He had been residing with his wife, Marjia Khatun, at her family home due to ongoing disputes with his cousins, Ismail and Julhas.

According to police and family accounts, the deadly assault occurred around 2.00 am while Sagar was standing in the courtyard. Hearing her husband’s desperate screams, Marjia rushed outside to find an armed group of twenty to twenty-five men breaking through the corrugated metal gate. Led by his cousins Julhas and Ismail, the attackers set upon Sagar with sharp weapons, inflicting multiple severe wounds across his body.

In a desperate bid to escape, Sagar ran toward the street before collapsing from heavy blood loss. His wife recounted that the attackers threatened to kill her when she attempted to intervene. When neighbors tried to transport the critically injured man to the hospital in an auto-rickshaw, the assailants chased the vehicle to intimidate them. Local residents eventually retrieved Sagar from a nearby alley and rushed him to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital, where attending doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Sagar’s mother, Sajeda Begum, voiced her immense grief, demanding swift arrest and exemplary punishment for those responsible. She recounted that her son gasped for water while lying wounded, but the attackers refused to grant him a drop.

Bogra Sadar Police Inspector Mahfuz Alam stated that officers have detained Shapla Begum, 55, the mother of suspect Ismail, for questioning. She has been admitted to hospital under police supervision after falling ill. The victim’s body has been sent to the hospital morgue for an autopsy, while police operations remain underway to apprehend the primary suspects as formal murder charges are being filed.