A brazen daylight attack inside a local barbershop has left a young fish trader dead in Keraniganj, sending shockwaves through the local community. Relatives and witnesses have alleged that the victim was targeted by a notorious juvenile gang following his persistent refusal to bow down to illegal extortion demands tied to his pavement stall.
The gruesome incident unfolded on Tuesday afternoon at the ‘Raj Salon’ located in the busy Arshinagar area of Keraniganj. The victim has been identified as 25-year-old Farhad Hossain, a native of Nurabad village under Dularhat Upazila in Bhola district. At the time of his tragic death, he was residing with his family near Member Goli in Arshinagar, striving to make an honest living through street-side vending.
According to eyewitness accounts, Farhad had walked to the nearby barbershop during the afternoon hours to get a haircut. While he sat in the salon chair, a heavily armed gang of ten to fifteen youths—widely recognized locally as the ‘Alex Group’—stormed the premises in a coordinated ambush. Led by gang members identified as Sabbir and Arman, the assailants cornered the young trader and launched a savage attack with sharp weapons, hacking him indiscriminately as horrified bystanders and shop staff watched in sheer disbelief.
Bleeding profusely and critically wounded, Farhad was rushed by frantic relatives and local residents to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) by approximately 4:30 PM. However, upon clinical evaluation, attending physicians pronounced him dead on arrival, citing catastrophic blood loss from multiple chop wounds.
The victim’s close friend, Arif, revealed that Farhad operated a retail fish stall on the pavement in the Mohirgola area of Mohammadpur. For a prolonged period, members of the ‘Alex Group’—including Arman, Sohel, Kallu, and Sabbir—had been pressuring him to pay a lump sum extortion fee of 50,000 BDT. In addition to this heavy initial demand, the syndicate continually threatened him with eviction and business disruption unless he paid daily protection fees.
Family members confirmed that mounting friction over these illegal financial demands and Farhad’s firm refusal to pay had triggered deep hostility from the criminal faction. Driven by vengeance and a desire to enforce territorial dominance, the gang meticulously plotted the attack, ambushing him in a confined public space where escape was impossible.
The brutal murder has plunged the neighbourhood into an atmosphere of intense fear and tension, drawing sharp public criticism regarding the menace posed by armed youth syndicates in urban peripheries. Grieving family members and local residents have strongly demanded an immediate manhunt to identify, capture, and bring all perpetrators to justice under the full extent of the law. Local law enforcement units have since intensified patrolling and launched an inquiry to track down the fleeing suspects.
