Dey stayed in the Sutrapur locality of Dhaka. It was a neighborhood of old Dhaka where many well established persons of the society used to stay. On 25 March 1971, the Pakistan army launched Operation Searchlight, a violent crackdown on the city, resulting in large number of civilian casualties. In the afternoon of 27 March, Dey was picked up from his Malakartola Lane residence by the Pakistan army and taken to the army camp at Sutrapur police station, along with ten other Bengali Hindu residents of the area. At 10 pm, he along with others were marched to the Loharpool bridge. He was shot dead and his body disposed of in the Dholai canal.