A Hindu garment worker in Bangladesh was mobbed and lynched last year after being accused of blasphemy, but a video circulating online claiming to show his killer dying after falling onto a live wire has been falsely shared. Local police and the man’s family denied the claims, saying the person shown in the clip had no connection to the 2025 killing, which fuelled a wave of cross-border misinformation between India and Bangladesh.
“Jihadi Hassan Sahadat, one of the key accused for mob lynching of Dipu Chandra Das has been found dead under mysterious condition hanging from electricity wires in Pabana, Bangladesh,” reads an X post shared on June 25, 2026.
The 21-second video shows a man lying on a roof with the upper half of his body resting on several live wires as rescue workers and onlookers watch.
Superimposed Bengali-language text on the video reads, “Dainik Sokal: Youth dies of electrocution in Pabna”, referring to a local news outlet.
The X account has previously shared misinformation debunked by AFP.
Screenshot comparison of the false X post taken on July 1, 2026, with a red X added by AFP
Bangladesh’s Hindu minority faced targeted attacks in the chaotic aftermath of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in August 2024 because of their perceived support for her government (archived link). Indian media reported that at least 11 Hindus were killed between December 2025 and January 2026 (archived link).
Among them was Dipu Chandra Das, a Hindu garment factory worker who was lynched following allegations of blasphemy in Mymensingh, north of the capital Dhaka, on December 18 (archived link).
According to police figures released in January 2026, out of 645 incidents involving members of minority groups in 2025, only 12 percent were classified as having a sectarian motive.
Comments on Instagram and X posts describing the death as “revenge” against Das’ killer suggest users believed the claim was genuine.
But local police and a relative of the man shown in the circulating video told AFP he was not linked to Das’ lynching in any way.
Accidental death
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the false post, combined with a keyword search, found the same video shared on the Facebook page of Bangladeshi news outlet Dainik Sokal on June 18 (archived link). The post is captioned: “Youth dies of electrocution in Pabna”.
Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the video posted by Dainik Sokal
Pabna is a Bangladeshi city located approximately 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Mymensingh, where Das was killed.
Further searches led to reports by Bangladeshi media outlets bdnews24 and Oishi Bangla, who identified the man as 30-year-old Shahadat Hossain, an employee at a local shop in Pabna. He died after slipping and falling onto an electric wire while clearing rainwater accumulated on a building rooftop on June 18 (archived link here and here).
Nazmul Hossain, officer in charge of the local police station in Pabna, told AFP on June 29 there was no connection between Das and the man in the clip.
“This was an accident. When the deceased went on the roof of a store to remove rainwater, he slipped and got electrocuted and died on the spot,” he said.
AFP also contacted the store owner and Hossain’s uncle, Muhammad Akul Hossain, who called the claim circulating online “totally fake”.
“My nephew used to work abroad. He had no connection with the lynching of garment worker Dipu Das,” Hossain told AFP on June 30.
Local media outlets reported that Bangladesh police had arrested the main suspect in Das’s killing, former teacher Yasin Arafat (archived link).
AFP contacted Muhammad Toabul Islam, the officer in charge of the case, who confirmed on July 5 that none of those arrested in connection with Das’ killing was named Shahadat Hossain.
AFP has previously debunked misinformation swirling around Bangladesh unrest.
