Osman Hadi Shooting Recast as ‘Covert Operation’ by Indian Nationalist Accounts
Amid continuing death threats, a day after the election schedule was announced, Sharif Osman Hadi — the spokesperson of Inqilab Mancha and an independent candidate for Dhaka-8 — was shot on a busy street in Dhaka on Dec. 12. Two assailants arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire at Hadi. He was struck in the head and remains in critical condition, receiving treatment at Evercare Hospital.
After the attempted assassination, the independent investigative outlet The Dissent published the identities of those involved. See here and here:
The attack on Hadi has drawn condemnation and concern across Bangladesh’s political arena. The government and all political parties denounced the shooting and protested it. But an opposite reaction came from the ousted fascist party Bangladesh Awami League and Hindu nationalist political activists in India.
Over the past several hours, The Dissent searched X and identified a number of posts and accounts operated from India that celebrated the attempt on Hadi’s life and thanked the attackers, describing them as “agents” acting in India’s interests. A Facebook post by Osman Hadi was also misinterpreted and circulated to portray the attack as justified and “necessary.”
Maj. Madhan Kumar (Retd.), a former Indian army officer and general secretary of the Indian campaign group Youth4Nation – TN Chapter, claimed in a post on X that Osman Hadi wanted to seize India’s northeastern region to build a “Greater Bangladesh,” and that he was therefore shot by unknown assailants in Dhaka.
An analysis of Maj. Madhan Kumar’s recent posts on X indicates that he has been campaigning in support of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
An examination shows that from Saturday morning onward, dozens of Indian X accounts simultaneously began spreading the claim that “Osman Hadi wanted to occupy India’s northeastern region.”
An Indian account, BhikuMhatre, made the same claim in a post on X. He also asserted that Indians are safe because of certain #Dhurandar. The post included a scene from a film praising India’s intelligence agency, RAW.
Multiple posts related to Osman Hadi used the hashtag #Dhurandar to express gratitude.
Hardline Hindu nationalist activist and BJP campaigner Dr. Rajesh Patil, in a long post, described what he called Hadi’s supposed, fabricated plan to capture India, claiming that a #Dhurandar decided to kill Hadi for his anti-India stance. He also warned that anyone opposing India would be “taken care of” by #Dhurandar, and that just as India “created” Bangladesh, it could also destroy it if it wished.
Another Indian activist, Bhakt Prahlad, labeled Osman Hadi anti-India and wrote: “This is the new India — #Dhurandhar will come to your place and kill you.”
See here :
Another Indian user, TARUN, echoed the same claim while thanking #Dhurandhar.
See here .
An account named India Strikes claimed that DHURANDHAR is active in Bangladesh and that Hadi was shot because he intended to seize India.
Why the #Dhurandhar Hashtag?
#DHURANDHAR is primarily a hashtag associated with the 2025 Bollywood spy action film “Dhurandhar,” in which Ranveer Singh leads a covert Indian operation against a Pakistani “terror network.”
By branding Osman Hadi as anti-India, these accounts have framed the attempted assassination as a covert operation carried out by Indian intelligence to defend India’s interests. They have also issued threats, claiming that anyone who speaks against India will be killed by this so-called DHURANDHAR.
False Claim Circulated that “Osman Hadi Wanted to Occupy India”
Several Hindu nationalist accounts operated from India claimed that Osman Hadi sought to occupy India’s northeastern region to establish a “Greater Bangladesh,” and that this was the reason he was targeted for assassination.
Some of those posts can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here:
As supposed evidence of this “India occupation” claim, Indian activists circulated a screenshot of a Facebook post made by Osman Hadi on Dec. 12.
The screenshot shows Hadi sharing a banner for a discussion titled “The Origins of Bangla and the Bengali People,” organized by the Inqilab Cultural Center. Because the discussion focused on Bengali history and origins, maps of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and other regions were included. Although each country and region was clearly marked in different colors, Indian activists claimed that Hadi was trying to merge India into Bangladesh’s map and occupy India. The image itself, however, clearly shows India and Bangladesh marked in separate colors.
Indian disinformation surrounding “Greater Bangladesh” is not new. Since the fall of autocrat Sheikh Hasina on Aug. 5, 2024, such false claims have circulated repeatedly. Independent fact-checkers, news organizations and the Bangladeshi government have debunked these narratives multiple times.
In other words, propaganda around “Greater Bangladesh” is not new; rather, following Hasina’s fall, a segment of Indian actors has continually promoted this false narrative.
Additionally, without any evidence, claims were made linking Osman Hadi to the banned organization Hizb ut-Tahrir. See here:
Another post called for Osman Hadi and Bangladeshis to be hanged at the border like Felani Khatun, who was killed at the frontier.
See here.
Death Threats From Foreign Phone Numbers
On Nov. 11, an Awami League activist, Dalton Saubat Hira, posted on Facebook calling for violence against specific individuals. Referring to the 13th, the post warned that if anyone “dared to come out,” several individuals and political activists would be “paid their dues” — a clear indication of violence. Osman Hadi was named directly, along with several other political activists.
See here:
Two days later, on Nov. 14, Osman Hadi detailed the threats in a Facebook post. He claimed that within just three hours he had received phone calls and messages from at least 30 foreign numbers. According to Hadi, the threats included surveillance, arson attacks on his home, and violent threats against him and his family members.
Hadi wrote that despite these threats, he would not retreat from his political position. He also said he entrusted his and his family’s safety to Allah.
See here:
Against this backdrop, a leaked online conference video involving Sheikh Hasina began circulating on social media. The exact date of the video could not be confirmed.
In the video, a man identified as Advocate Saidur Rahman is heard saying, “Those who killed our brothers and sisters — we will also take up arms and kill them, God willing, in the future.”
In response, Sheikh Hasina is heard telling him: “Talk less. Those who talk too much can’t do anything. Less talk, more action. Don’t just say it — do it first.”
The Dissent could not independently verify the video.
See here:
In another video, Hasina is heard instructing attacks against Jamaat and BNP.
See here:
The Dissent could not independently verify this video.
Competing Attempts to Assign Blame
A post published on the Facebook page of the daily Ajker Kantha bore the headline: “Breaking: Osman Hadi shot on the orders of Mirza Abbas, taken to Dhaka Medical.” The post directly blamed BNP leader Mirza Abbas for the attack.
A user named Morshed Alam Saudi Lifestyle23 wrote: “Mirza Abbas’s rival is Osman Hadi; Mirza Abbas doesn’t want to lose to the young generation in old age, so out of fear of losing he hired terrorists. If he kills Osman Hadi — a youth icon, one of the heroes of the July revolution — his path is clear. But Mirza Abbas has forgotten that if one youth icon is killed, crores of youth icons will rise. It’s clear: Mirza Abbas is India’s stooge. No matter how many conspiracies he does, it won’t work. Write it down: Osman Hadi will win Dhaka-08, India’s stooge Mirza Abbas will not.”
After the attack, posts blaming Jamaat also spread on social media. A Facebook account named Masudur Rahman Masum claimed that ahead of the election, “Jamaati covert agents” attacked Osman Hadi to destabilize the situation.
See here.
A page named Feninews24 claimed that before being shot, a bundle of money was being handed into Osman Hadi’s pocket by a Jamaat leader from Daganbhuiyan, Mezbah Uddin Saeed. The post further claimed that one of the assailants was standing right beside Hadi at the scene when the money was being given. The caption asked whether there was any connection between this alleged transaction and the shooting.
See here.
Nijhum Majumdar wrote that the tendency to blame Mirza Abbas reflected “stereotypical thinking,” and that Abbas would not take such a violent path. In the same post, he claimed he suspected Jamaat and Sadik Qayem in the attack, and also commented that the younger generation is not aware of Jamaat’s “politics of killing.”
Awami League activist Sushanta Das Gupta framed the attack as a political conspiracy. In his post, he argued that it was not a coincidence that the shooting coincided with plans to change Jamaat’s candidate in Dhaka–8.
See here.
A Disinformation Campaign Using AI-Generated Images
After the shooting, misleading visual content also spread on social media. A journalist named Mostafa Kamal posted AI-generated images circulating online that depicted Shibir leader Sadik Qayem and a suspected assailant, asking: “Is that boy this boy? Who leans toward whom, who gets trapped, who coughs?”
After the attack, a segment of pro-Awami League online activists circulated an AI-generated image, claiming that the person shown was the younger brother of a friend of Inqilab Mancha leader Osman Hadi and that the image was taken from CCTV footage.
However, The Dissent's verification found that this claim is not true.
Authentic photographs taken by Hadi’s campaign outreach team on the day of the shooting show that both suspects were wearing masks. A picture of one masked individual has been altered using AI to attach a false identity. AI detection tools indicated a very high likelihood that the viral image was artificially created or manipulated.
