A 45-year-old grocery shop owner sustained a gunshot wound after being targeted by unidentified assailants in the Dakshin Tutpara Gashtola area of Khulna city on Saturday evening (Nov 29). The victim, identified as Dhananjay Kundu alias Akash Kundu, was sitting inside his establishment when the attack occurred, sending shockwaves through the local business community.
According to local accounts, the incident unfolded during the evening hours when Kundu suddenly cried out for help, informing bystanders that he had been struck in the lower abdomen by a bullet. Prompted by his cries, local residents rushed to the scene and swiftly evacuated him to Khulna Medical College Hospital for emergency medical treatment.
Law enforcement officers subsequently combed the crime scene and recovered a spent bullet casing. Lokman Hossain, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Khulna Sadar Police Station, stated that law enforcement is actively working to identify and apprehend the perpetrators involved in the shooting.
Preliminary observations of the shooting pattern suggest that the culprits may have intended to intimidate rather than assassinate the shopkeeper, the OC noted. Describing Kundu as a mild-mannered resident of the locality, police are pursuing extortion as a primary motive behind the attack while a thorough investigation is underway.
This violent episode followed a separate shooting earlier on Saturday morning (Nov 29) in Terkhada upazila of Khulna district, where a local BNP youth wing leader was wounded. Ramim Biswas, 32, who serves as the president of the 3rd ward unit of Jubo Dal in the upazila's 6 number Madhupur union, was shot by motorcycle-borne miscreants.
Police and local sources reported that the morning ambush took place at approximately 11:15 AM while Biswas was traveling by a van toward Kolabazar. As the vehicle reached the Parhazirgram area near Khan Bricks along the Senerbazar-Madhupur road, the assailanted approached from behind on a motorcycle and opened fire, striking Biswas in the back before he was rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital.
