Dhaka, Sep 12 (IANS) Amid growing concerns over the safety of minorities across Bangladesh, a Hindu senior journalist was found dead inside the bureau office of Bangladeshi daily Samakal in Barisal district, local media reported.
The body of 57-year-old Pulak Chatterjee, a former Barisal bureau chief of Daily Samakal, was found hanging inside the newspaper’s office on Friday evening.
Confirming the incident, Al Mamun-ul Islam, officer-in-charge of Barisal Kotwali Model Police Station, said, “The exact cause of death will be known after the autopsy report.”
Citing local sources, Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported that Chatterjee had been dismissed from service at Samakal around three years ago. He had also served as general secretary of the Barisal Press Club and previously worked with Bangladeshi daily Jugantor for many years. He is survived by his wife and a daughter.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Awami League on Saturday alleged that the circumstances surrounding Chatterjee’s death at the Samakal office raised serious questions, saying the leaked photograph of his body suggested that it was not a natural death.
“Both feet are on the ground, the knees are bent, and the body is almost upright. No one dies and falls in this position naturally. It has clearly been staged. The question is: who staged it? And why did they have to stage it?” the party questioned.
Recalling the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jamaat e Islami alliance’s five-year rule from 2001 to 2006, the party said that the persecution of minority communities across the country during that period is now being witnessed again in 2026.
“Attacks on temples, homes being set on fire, land grabbing, brutal sexual violence against women, and countless Hindus being forced to leave Bangladesh. That picture is appearing before our eyes again today, in 2026. Pulak Chatterjee was a journalist during that period. He saw what happened, wrote about it, and remained a witness. Silencing him means attempting to silence history,” it stated.
The Awami League accused BNP and Jamaat of replaying the events from 2001-06 in 2026, alleging that suppression of minorities, repression of journalists, and silencing dissenting voices were the three pillars of their rule.
“Pulak Chatterjee was a minority, a journalist, and the bureau chief of Samakal. In other words, he represented all three. Killing him means eliminating all three at once,” it added.
Expressing grave concern over Chatterjee’s death, the party said, “He was a witness to the period when the BNP-Jamaat alliance allegedly stained the soil of Bangladesh with the blood of minorities. Silencing him means silencing that testimony. But the truth cannot be buried. Pulak’s death has brought that truth even more forcefully into the spotlight.”
–IANS
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