Bangladesh journalist’s body found in lake hours after cryptic posts on death

The body of a 32-year-old woman journalist was recovered from a lake in Bangladesh on Wednesday, according to local media reports.

Identified as Sarah Rahanuma, she was the newsroom editor of a Bengali-language news channel. Rahanuma’s body was found floating in Dhaka’s Hatirjheel Lake early Wednesday. A passerby, who saw her in that condition, pulled the body from the lake and took her to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). However, doctors declared her dead upon arrival at around 2 am (local time).

Inspector Bachchu Mia, in charge of the hospital police outpost, confirmed the recovery of her body, local reports added. Before her death, Rahanuma posted two cryptic posts on her Facebook profile on Tuesday night – one at 10.24 pm and another at 10.36 pm. In the second post, she tagged one Fahim Faysal.

The first post was in Bengali. “It is better to die than to live a life corresponding to death,” she wrote. The second post consisted of pictures of her and Faysal wearing bandannas of the Bangladesh flag. The location of the post showed Dhaka University.

“It was nice having a friend like you. God bless you always. Hope, you’ll fulfill all your dreams soon. I know we had a lots of planning together. Sorry, can’t fulfill our plannings. May god bless you in every aspects of your life,” she wrote.

Around an hour later, at 11.25 pm, there is one comment by Fahim Faysal, who pleads with Rahanuma not to do anything to herself. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever met, don’t ruin this friendship! Don’t do any harm to yourself,” the comment read.

The police said that an investigation will be conducted to ascertain the cause of her death. Meanwhile, Inspector Bachchu Mia said that the journalist’s body has been kept at the DMCH morgue, The Dhaka Tribune reported.

While no concrete reason behind Sarah Rahanuma’s death has come to the fore, ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed, has called it “another brutal attack” on the freedom of expression in the country.

“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 tweeted.

Local media reports, citing Rahanuma’s husband, Sayed Shuvro, said that on the day of the incident, she did not return from work at night.

He was informed around 3 am that she had jumped into Hatirjheel Lake, Somoy News reported. Shuvro further stated that Rahanuma had been wanting to separate from him for some time.

The couple had planned to visit a Kazi office to finalise their divorce, but due to the current situation in Bangladesh in the aftermath of unrest, they failed to do so.