Police have recovered the body of a 17-year-old youth from the edge of a dragon fruit plantation in Maheshpur upazila, Jhenaidah district, after he reportedly encountered a lethal improvised electrical trap installed around the crop perimeter.

The deceased has been identified as Jihad Hossain, son of Delwar Hossain, hailing from Chunniait village within the upazila.

According to relative accounts and police sources, Jihad stepped out of his family home on Friday evening shortly after finishing dinner. When he failed to return as night fell, anxious family members initiated a search across the surrounding locality, inquiring at nearby residences and searching local routes throughout the night without success.

The following morning, Saturday, 3 October, local villagers discovered Jihad’s lifeless body lying motionless on the perimeter of a dragon fruit orchard owned by Tuhin, son of Abdul Kuddus from the neighbouring village of Bhairaba. Upon receiving the news, grieving family members rushed to the scene alongside officers from Maheshpur Police Station, who subsequently retrieved the body for preliminary inquest procedures.

Illegal Electrical Fences Present Growing Hazard

Preliminary investigations by police and accounts provided by local residents suggest that Jihad died from electrocution after coming into contact with live wires laid around the fruit garden.

Across several agricultural belts in Southwestern Bangladesh, commercial orchard owners frequently resort to installing hazardous live-wire perimeters or electrified traps around high-value cash crops such as dragon fruit to safeguard their yields from wildlife, pests, and nocturnal intruders. When installed without safety warnings or proper regulation, these illegal energized lines create severe, life-threatening hazards for local residents and unsuspecting passers-by navigating rural tracks after dark.

Azad Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Maheshpur Police Station, confirmed that a police unit was dispatched to the scene immediately upon receiving information. “We have recovered the body and are following standard legal procedures,” Rahman stated, adding that formal legal actions regarding the circumstances of the death and the unauthorized electrical wiring are actively underway.

News of Jihad’s tragic death has sent shockwaves through Chunniait and adjoining villages, casting a heavy pall of grief over the local community. Relatives and neighbours have expressed mounting concern over the unchecked use of lethal electrical traps on farm plots, calling for stringent legal measures and thorough official investigations to determine whether criminal negligence contributed to the loss of a young life.