DHAKA, Aug 22–23, 2025 — The Meghna moves with deceptive calm where the river opens near Char Balaki in Gazaria, all brown water and heat-haze shimmer. Late Friday afternoon, river police guided a body to the bank. By evening, inside the fluorescent quiet of the Munshiganj General Hospital morgue, family members said the word no family wants to say: yes—it’s him.
Veteran journalist and columnist Bibhuranjan Sarkar, 71, was found in the water two days after he failed to reach his newsroom. Police said the body was recovered near Char Balaki and identified by relatives; the case is now under investigation.
The last morning
From his Siddheshwari flat in Dhaka, Sarkar left for work around 10am on Thursday, according to his family and police. He apparently left his phone at home. When night fell and he hadn’t returned, his son Wreet lodged a general diary at Ramna Model Police Station.
By mid-afternoon Friday, river police at Kalagachhia said they had retrieved a male body from the Meghna near Char Balaki; in the evening, relatives identified it at Munshiganj General Hospital.
Local outlets later quoted Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Ramna Division Deputy Commissioner Md Masud Alam as saying CCTV appeared to show Sarkar boarding a motorcycle after leaving home—detail that, if accurate, could help reconstruct his final movements. Police have not released footage publicly.
Recovery and inquest
Kalagachhia river police said the body was found floating, spectacles looped on a cord around his neck. Initial notes mentioned no visible injury marks, and the remains were sent for post-mortem. Hospital officials told reporters the autopsy showed no external or internal injuries; tissue samples were preserved and sent to Dhaka for further tests, with the final opinion pending.
Under Bangladeshi law, deaths under unexplained circumstances trigger a police inquest under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and, where needed, a magistrate’s inquiry under Section 176. That process is slow by design—built to trade quick certainty for forensic rigor—however uncomfortable that is for grieving families.
The email titled “Khola Chithi”
Hours before he went missing, Sarkar emailed an opinion essay to bdnews24.com—titled Khola Chithi (“Open Letter”). In a stark footnote he wrote: “You may publish this as the last writing of my life.” The outlet published the piece on Friday, noting how he laid out illnesses in the family, his daughter’s exam setback, his son’s job search, and his own financial strain.
In that letter, he also described pressures on the press, alleging that senior government officials—including the Chief Adviser’s press secretary—routinely pressured media outlets to spike articles, and that his own position in the newsroom had become “very delicate” under that strain. (These are his allegations as stated in the letter; investigators will be expected to examine them as they reconstruct the timeline.)
A tighter excerpt captures the thrust of his complaint:
“All those who perform executive duties in the media are always in a state of panic … the online department of Ajker Patrika has been shown ‘red-eye’ [Bangla: lal chokh—anger from the authorities] over one of my articles … my position in the newspaper is very delicate … What do I do now? Which way do I walk?”
A career measured in columns and stubborn courage
Born in 1954, Sarkar began reporting as a schoolboy correspondent for Dainik Azad, later studying Bangla at Dhaka University. Over the decades, he worked across national dailies and weeklies—editing Matribhumi and Chaltipatra, serving as executive editor of Mridubhashon, and most recently as a Senior Assistant Editor at Ajker Patrika.
In the 1980s, while the anti-Ershad movement roiled the streets, his political essays under the pseudonym “Tarik Ibrahim” in the weekly Jai Jai Din drew a fierce, faithful readership. (These biographical details were provided by family and colleagues to local media.)
On Saturday, the hospital released the body to the family. Funeral rites were planned in Dhaka. The notebooks closed; the questions didn’t.
The system around a sudden death
Bangladesh’s procedure for unexplained deaths is precise: police conduct an inquest and send the body for autopsy under CrPC §174; a magistrate may conduct a further inquiry under §176, either alongside or instead of the police investigation. Forensics, call-detail records, CCTV, and witness statements—not speculation—will decide whether health, accident, or criminal agency shaped the final hours.
A hazardous season for journalism
The death of a senior journalist would be news in any season. It comes amid a stretch in which many Bangladeshi reporters say they feel increasingly exposed.
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Accreditation and access: In late 2024, authorities canceled 167 press accreditations over several phases (Oct 29–Nov 7), drawing condemnation from editors and rights groups. Journalists’ access to the Bangladesh Secretariat was suspended and later partially restored via temporary passes, a system still criticized as arbitrary.
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Attacks on media houses: During and after the upheaval of July–August 2024—when Sheikh Hasina resigned on August 5—mobs burned or vandalized multiple TV stations, including Ekattor TV, Somoy TV, ATN News and others, according to a UN human-rights fact-finding report; RSF said facilities of at least nine TV channels were vandalized.
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Killings of journalists: In 2025, Gazipur saw the machete killing of reporter Asaduzzaman Tuhin (Aug 7) and the earlier targeted killing of Khandaker Shah Alam (June 25), condemned by RSF and UNESCO. Police have announced arrests in the Tuhin case; press groups demand credible prosecutions.
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Criminal cases against reporters: By May 3, 2025, The Daily Star tallied 266 journalists facing criminal proceedings—often on murder or violent-crime charges—since August 5, 2024; editors called many cases retaliatory. The Rights & Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) separately reported 640 journalists “targeted” (arrests, violence, notices) from Aug 2024 to Mar 2025; the government disputes this.
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The global index: Bangladesh rose 16 places in RSF’s 2025 World Press Freedom Index to 149th of 180, yet RSF has documented persistent threats and violence through 2025, underscoring how a single score can’t mask daily risks.
The political backdrop is raw: since Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge of an interim government in August 2024 after Hasina’s ouster, rights groups and media have documented mass casualties during the protests and widespread attacks on minorities and institutions.
Reports by civil society and international outlets recorded 2,010 incidents of communal violence against Hindu, Buddhist and Christian communities from Aug 4–20, 2024, with allegations of continuing attacks into 2025; the authorities dispute parts of this picture, and fact-checkers have warned of exaggerations in some coverage.
More recently, Bangladesh’s media wars have spilled into the open: in early August 2025, the owners and staff of Daily Janakantha traded allegations of a takeover attempt and “mob occupation” of the newspaper’s office; police received complaints as rival groups blamed each other, and coverage linked some actors to political factions. However that standoff ends, it’s a parable of the moment—newsrooms as a stage for national polarization.
What we know—and what we don’t
Known: Sarkar left for work Thursday and didn’t arrive. River police recovered his body Friday near Char Balaki. Family identified him that evening. Initial post-mortem: no external or internal injuries, with samples sent for further analysis. Local media say CCTV suggests he boarded a motorcycle after leaving home. Police say the investigation is ongoing.
Unknown: How he reached the river; whether illness, accident, or a criminal act played any role; whether the “last writing” footnote reflected private despair, a rhetorical turn, or something else entirely. Those answers live in forensic reports, phone records, CCTV, and witnesses—mundane tools with enormous stakes. Under CrPC §§174–176, investigators and magistrates have the authority—and the obligation—to follow those threads until they meet.
For now, colleagues write their own letters to a man who wrote them for decades: a farewell that asks, quietly and insistently, for truth.
