Arrest made in Gaibandha over brutal murder of farmer

A major breakthrough has been achieved by law enforcement in Bangladesh after the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a 54-year-old man suspected of murdering a local farmer during the theft of an irrigation transformer. The suspect, identified as Shahidul Islam, is believed to be a key member of an organised gang targeting critical agricultural infrastructure across the northern districts.

According to an official press release issued on Wednesday afternoon by RAB-13, which was signed by Additional Superintendent of Police Biplob Kumar Goswami, the suspect was apprehended during a night-time raid on Tuesday. Acting on intelligence, elite forces targeted the Jundah Bazar area under Palashbari upazila in Gaibandha to arrest Islam. The suspect, a resident of the Purandar area within Gobindaganj upazila, has since been handed over to the local police to face formal prosecution.

A fatal guard duty in the fields

The roots of the investigation trace back to a tragic incident on 7 May in Umarpur village, situated in the Pirganj upazila of Rangpur. The victim, Mofizar Rahman, was a dedicated local farmer who tended to a deep tube-well irrigation pump installed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC).

In rural Bangladesh, irrigation transformers are highly prized targets for thieves due to the valuable copper windings and specialised cooling oil contained inside them. Because of the persistent threat of theft, local farmers often take turns sleeping inside the pump houses to guard the machinery. Mofizar was performing this vital community duty on the night he was targeted.

• The Discovery: On the morning of 7 May, neighbours noticed that the BADC transformer had been dismantled and stolen. They quickly alerted Mofizar’s family.

• The Crime Scene: Upon reaching the site, relatives found the pump house locked from the outside. Breaking the lock, they discovered Mofizar’s lifeless, bloodied body inside, with his hands and feet securely bound.

• The Motive: Investigating officers concluded that Mofizar was murdered when he woke up and attempted to resist the gang during the heist.

The rising toll of rural infrastructure theft

The tragic death of Mofizar Rahman highlights a growing crisis across Bangladesh’s agricultural heartlands. The theft of electrical transformers has become a highly lucrative enterprise for rural criminal networks. When a transformer is stolen, it does not merely represent a loss of state property; it completely halts the local irrigation network. For communities dependent on timely water supply for paddy and vegetable cultivation, a delay of even a few days can ruin an entire season’s crop, pushing vulnerable families into extreme poverty.

To protect their livelihoods, impoverished farmers are forced to act as security guards, staying overnight in remote, unlit pump houses far from residential areas. This exposes them to violent gangs who do not hesitate to use lethal force when confronted. Following the murder of Mofizar, his brother, Monuar Hossain, filed a case against unidentified individuals at the Pirganj Police Station. The subsequent investigation by RAB eventually linked Shahidul Islam to the crime scene, paving the way for his arrest. Authorities are continuing their enquiries to track down his accomplices and the black-market receivers of the stolen copper.