Veteran Journalist Bibhuranjan Sarkar found dead in Dhaka

The body of veteran journalist and columnist Bibhuranjan Sarkar was recovered from the Meghna River near Char Balaki in Munshiganj’s Gazaria Upazila of Dhaka on Friday afternoon, a day after he was reported missing.

Police confirmed that the body, which was found floating in the river, was retrieved by officers from the Kalagachhia River Police Outpost around 3:45 pm and later sent to the Munshiganj General Hospital morgue for autopsy. Family members have since identified the body.

Sarkar, 71, was serving as Senior Editor at the Bangla daily Ajker Patrika. He had left his Siddheshwari residence on Thursday morning to go to his office in Banasree but never arrived. Later that morning, at about 9:15 am, he emailed an article titled Khola Chithi (“Open Letter”) to bdnews24.com with a poignant note: “You may publish this as my final piece of writing.” The article was subsequently published in the outlet’s opinion section.

In the letter, Sarkar reflected on his lifelong struggles, including his own and his son’s chronic illnesses, his daughter’s career setbacks, his son’s difficulty in finding employment despite graduating from BUET, and the family’s growing financial pressures. He also looked back on his five-decade-long career, which began as a schoolboy correspondent for Dainik Azad. Over the years, he worked at Sangbad and Rupali, and held editorial roles at Dainik Matribhumi and Chaltipatra. He was executive editor of Mridubhashon and contributed columns under the pseudonym “Tarik Ibrahim” during the anti-Ershad movement in the 1980s.

Sarkar’s sudden death has sent shockwaves across Bangladesh’s media fraternity, with colleagues and readers mourning the loss of a fearless voice in journalism.