Bangladeshi Hindu woman’s ‘murder’ by man seeking sexual favours given false communal spin

An image of the seemingly lifeless body of a woman lying on the ground is being widely circulated on social media. It is claimed that a 60-year-old Hindu woman was brutally raped and murdered in Sirajganj, Bangladesh, in yet another case of atrocities against members of the minority community. 

X user Voice of Bangladeshi Hindus (@BeUnitedHindus) shared this image on X, claiming that the woman, named Anna Bala Das, was brutally raped and murdered in Sirajganj, Bangladesh, for her ‘crime’ of being from the minority community. (Archive)

The claim was amplified by J Sai Deepak, a lawyer known for his Hindutva advocacy.

Radharaman Das, vice-president of ISKCON Kolkata, also reposted this claim.  

Radharaman Das has been called out by Alt News several times for amplifying communal disinformation. In the wake of the Balasore train accident, he had amplified a claim where the photo of an ISKCON temple near the mishap site was peddled as a mosque with the insinuation that Muslims had caused the accident. 

Several other social media users shared the image and made similar claims. 

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Fact Check

A reverse image search led us to several news articles from Bangladesh. A Nandito TV report carried the same image as seen in the viral claim.

The report mentioned that on October 11, villagers of Salanga in Sirajganj district spotted a dead body near Salanga Islam High School. The woman was identified as Anna Rani Das, 45, a member of the village police force. 

Another report by Aajker Patrika mentioned that Anna Rani Das was allegedly strangled to death by a man named Tapas Kumar Das, after she had rejected an “immoral proposal” from him. On October 13, Tapas Kumar Das reportedly confessed to his crime in the court of Sirajganj senior judicial magistrate. Das, 35, is the son of Surya Kumar Das of Bharmohani Daspara village under Salanga police station area. 

Salanga police station in-charge Humayun Kabir confirmed the same to Aajker Patrika. Investigating officer in the case Moinul Islam confirmed the same to Samakal newspaper. He said that the incident happened when the victim was out for a morning walk. Tapas allegedly made some indecent proposal and when the victim rejected it, he forcibly hugged her. When she shouted for help, Tapas Kumar Das allegedly strangled her to death.  

During our investigation, we also found that @pib_banglafact had debunked the claim that the crime was communal in nature. The alleged crime stemmed from personal dispute and not religious persecution, they clarified.

সিরাজগঞ্জের আন্না রানী দাসের ঘটনার সঙ্গে কোনো সাম্প্রদায়িক সংশ্লিষ্টতা পাওয়া যায়নি। অভিযুক্ত তাপস আদালতে ১৬৪ ধারায় দেওয়া স্বীকারোক্তিমূলক জবানবন্দিতে আন্নাকে শ্বাসরোধ করে হত্যার কথা স্বীকার করেছেন।#FactCheck #banglafact #pib #bangladesh #fakenews pic.twitter.com/JiZ47e7Ar0

— BanglaFact (@pib_banglafact) October 14, 2025

To sum up, the claim that a 60-year-old Hindu woman was raped and murdered in Bangladesh for her ‘crime’ of hailing from the minority community is false and baseless. The woman was allegedly murdered by a man named Tapas Kumar Das, a Hindu, after she had rejected an “immoral proposal” from him.