A farmer was found murdered with both hands severed in Bangladesh’s southeastern Chattogram district on Wednesday, October 28, four days after local criminals allegedly demanded extortion money from him.
The victim, Mohammad Nezam Uddin, 45, was discovered on a road near a paddy field in the Mirerkheel area of Sarafbhata Union under Rangunia upazila.
Both hands had been severed at the elbows, apparently with a sharp weapon. The severed hands were reportedly found beside his body.
Nezam, son of Mohammad Rafiqul Islam of the Mirerkheel Sluice Gate area, earned his livelihood through farming and raising cattle and goats.
He had gone to guard his Aman paddy against wild elephants on Tuesday night. When he failed to return home the following morning, his family began searching for him.
Local residents spotted his body near the Rangunia–Boalkhali border and alerted police. Investigators believe he was killed during the night and his body abandoned beside the fields.
Extortion Demand Four Days Earlier
According to local residents, a group of criminals demanded extortion money from Nezam four days before his death, but he refused to pay.
The allegation has raised suspicions about a possible connection between the demand and the killing, although police have not established a motive or identified those responsible.
Nezam’s younger brother, Jasim Uddin, expressed shock at the killing.
“My brother was an ordinary farmer and day labourer. We cannot understand why anyone would murder him so brutally,” he said.
Police Investigate Killing
Officers from South Rangunia Police Station recovered the body and sent it to a morgue for a postmortem examination.
Police suspect that excessive bleeding may have caused Nezam’s death, although the precise cause remains subject to autopsy findings.
South Rangunia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Hilal Uddin Ahmed said investigators were working to identify the attackers and determine the motive.
Senior police officials and detectives also visited the scene as multiple teams began investigating the killing.
Series of Killings Sparks Fear
According to local residents, several people have been hacked and injured in attacks by armed criminals in Sarafbhata village over the past month. In an earlier incident, assailants reportedly entered a house at night and attacked a sleeping resident with sharp weapons in an apparent attempt to kill them.
Residents said more than 20 murders have occurred in Rangunia over the past two years, with more than half of them taking place in Sarafbhata Union. The killings have spread widespread fear throughout the area.
Hundreds of families have reportedly fled Mirerkheel and surrounding villages amid continued threats and violence by criminal groups. Residents alleged that many victims are too afraid to file police complaints, allowing known offenders to escape prosecution.
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