Bangladesh Scrap Trader Lynched To Death With Cement Slabs, Accused Dance Over Dead Body

Last Updated:July 13, 2025, 16:53 IST

Lal Chand, a scrap trader, was lynched with chunks of concrete slabs in Dhaka, after which the attackers danced over his body. The incident triggered protests in Bangladesh.

At least seven people have been arrested in connection with the scrap trader's murder. (Reuters/Representational Image)

Hundreds of students took to the streets after a scrap trader was mercilessly lynched to death by a group of people in Dhaka last week, accusing the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus of failure to contain mob violence.

Lal Chand alias Sohag, a scrap trader, was brutally lynched with chunks of concrete slabs at Rojoni Ghosh Lane near Mitford Hospital in Dhaka, according to a video of the incident that went viral on Thursday.

After confirming his death, the attackers danced on his body. Lal Chand’s murder sparked widespread outrage in the country, prompting police to initiate a nationwide combing operation on Sunday.

7 Arrested In Lal Chand’s Murder Case

Bangladesh’s Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the operation was launched to maintain law and order and ensure pre-election stability following the murder on July 9.

“The murder that took place in Mitford, the capital, is extremely tragic and barbaric. Such incidents have no place in a civilised society," he was quoted as saying in local media.

Police had earlier arrested five people for their alleged involvement in the lynching. Chowdhury announced that two more people were arrested in connection with the case on Saturday night. One of the suspects, Titon Gazi, who was directly involved in the killing, was sent to five-day police remand.

‘Who Gave You Beasts The Right?’

Widespread protests were held in Dhaka University and Jagannath University after Lal Chand’s brutal murder video went viral, as well as in private universities such as the BRAC University, NSU, East West University and government-run Eden College on Saturday, according to news agency PTI.

“Who gave you beasts the right to kill people? What is the Interim (government) doing when extortionists are carrying out mayhem?" said the protesting students on their campuses.

At least 19 accused are named in the lynching case. According to BDNews24, a group of activists from the youth front of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh ist Party (BNP) was allegedly responsible for the murder of the scrap trader. The party said it had immediately expelled four perpetrators.

In another such incident earlier this month, a woman and her son and daughter were beaten to death at central Cumilla’s Muradnagar area for their alleged involvement in drug dealing.

Bangladesh has seen a surge of mob killings since August 2024, when the then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s 16-year-long Awami League regime was ousted in a violent movement spearheaded by Students against Discrimination.

(with PTI inputs)

Dhaka, Bangladesh

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