Rahanuma Sarah, a newsroom editor at Bangladesh’s Gazi TV, a Bengali-language satellite and cable television channel, was found dead in a lake in Dhaka. Her body was found floating in Hatirjheel Lake in the country’s capital on Wednesday, police confirmed.
Officer-in-Charge Md Saiful Islam confirmed to The Daily Messeneger the matter that a restaurant employee named Md Sagor spotted the body of a woman floating in the lake and took her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctors declared her dead upon arrival around 1:45 am.
Inspector Bachchu Mia, in charge of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s (DMCH) police said the body was sent to the hospital morgue for autopsy. Whether it is suicide or murder will be known only after getting the autopsy report, he added.
32-year-old Rahanuma had been living with her husband Sayed Shuvro in a rented house in the capital Dhaka. Her husband Shuvro told the media at DMCH that they got married seven years back through a relationship without informing the families. On Tuesday night, Rahanuma went to office and did not return home at night but sent the house rent money through a person at around 10:30pm.
“Later I called her and said that if you don’t come home at night, why did you send money to someone else? Then she replied that I am busy and hang up the phone. Later, at around 3am, we got the news that she had jumped into the water of Hatirjheel Lake,” he said.
Later, he came at the DMCH and found her body here, he added.
“We haven’t had a quarrel, but my wife has been seeking a separation for quite some time,” he said, adding that they both went to a local kazi office for divorce. In this situation, it was impossible to go to the kazi office,” Shuvro said.
However, late Tuesday around 12am, Rahnuma uploaded a post on her Facebook account saying in Bengali, “It is better to die than being dead while living.”Soon after she posted another status tagging one named Fahim Faisal and sharing a few pictures wrote: “Good to have a friend like you. God bless you. I hope all your dreams will be fulfilled soon. We had a lot of plans. Sorry, I can’t fulfill the plans. May God bless you in every aspect of your life.”
Rumors spread after the journalist’s death
Ousted Bangladesh ex-PM Sheikh Hasina’s US-based son, Sajeeb Wazed demanded in an X post that it was a brutal attack on the freedom of expression.
“Rahmuna Sara Gazi TV newsroom editor was found dead. Her body was recovered from Hatirjheel Lake in Dhaka city. This is another brutal attack on freedom of expression in Bangladesh. Gazi TV is a secular news channel owned by Golam Dastagir Gazi who was arrested recently,” he posted on X.
Indian media “The Hindustan times” wrote Sajeeb Wazed’s controversial X post propaganda in the news headline.
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