On the night of December 31, Khokon Chandra Das, a resident of Tilai village in Damudya upazila of Shariatpur, was attacked while returning home. He died yesterday (Saturday) while undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

Following his death, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that Khokon Chandra Das was killed by an “Islamist mob.” Posts making this claim were shared from BJP West Bengal’s X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram accounts, as well as its Facebook page. The same content was posted in Bengali on Facebook and Instagram, and in English on X.

The posts stated, “After Dipu Das, now Khokon Das has been brutally attacked by a frenzied Islamist mob and burned alive. He succumbed to his injuries early this morning. This death is not an accident; it is the result of planned barbarity.”

See the three posts here, here, and here.

Apart from BJP, several India-based X accounts are also spreading claims that Khokon Das was killed by “Jihadist Islamists” or a “Muslim mob.”

See here, here, and here.

In addition, several Indian media outlets have reported the incident as being carried out by an “Islamist mob” or a “mob.”

See here, here, and here.

However, The Dissent found that this claim is not true.

After the incident, while injured, Khokon Chandra Das named two of his attackers. They are—Sohag Khan (27), son of Babul Khan of Koneshwar area, and Rabbi Mollah (21), son of Shamsuddin Mollah. Additionally, during preliminary investigation, police identified another person involved in the incident; Palash Sardar (25), son of local resident Shahid Sardar.

All of them have already been arrested.

Police stated that preliminary investigation suggests the attack was carried out with the intention of robbery.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Damudya Police Station, Mohammad Rabiul Haque, told this reporter, “According to our preliminary investigation, Khokon Chandra Das was stabbed with the intention of robbery. Later, when he recognized the attackers, they tried to burn him to eliminate evidence.”

In addition to the police officers, The Dissent also spoke with Khokon Chandra Das’s wife, cousin and a local schoolteacher.

When Khokon Chandra Das’s son, Shanto Das, was reached by phone, he said he would hand the call to his guardian and then disconnected. When called again, Khokon Chandra Das’s wife, Sima Das, answered. “We have very good relations with the Muslims around us,” she said. “He had no prior enmity with anyone. We cannot say why they attacked him. We have lost all our money and have been left destitute.”

Khokon Chandra Das’s maternal cousin, Nikhil Das, said, “The incident was essentially a robbery. He had approximately 600,000 taka on him at the time. After the incident, we did not recover the money. When one of them was recognized by Khokon, they hacked him and set him on fire.”

Enam Munshi, a teacher at the local No. 29 Keur Bhanga Government Primary School, said, “Those involved in this incident are basically unruly and delinquent youths. They are also known in the area as drug addicts.”

“After Khokon’s body was brought home, thousands of Muslims from our village and surrounding villages came to his house,” Mr. Munshi said. “They expressed their solidarity.”

Therefore, the claim that ‘‘Islamist extremists or an Islamist mob’’ were involved in this incident is false.

(The story has been updated after receiving some additional accounts from Khokon Chandra Das's family and relatives.)