“Feed the children and put them to sleep. I’ll be a little late getting home; I’m busy working on a news story.” Journalist Lutfuzzaman Alif Fakir had said this to his wife, Anondita Sangma, before leaving home.
Who could have known that this would be his last conversation with her? His wife had finished dinner and was waiting with their two children when she heard the news of her husband’s death. Lutfuzzaman had been shot dead by assailants.
At around 7:45 pm on Thursday, Lutfuzzaman, 44, left home after placing his one-and-a-half-year-old son, Aiyan Safayan, in his wife’s arms. A short while later he was shot dead in front of a village shop.
Anondita was devastated by the loss of her husband. Holding her son in her arms and sitting beside her husband’s body, she told Prothom Alo through tears, “I never imagined that someone could shoot a person dead within such a short time.”
“When I was feeding the children, I heard the gunshots and initially thought someone was setting off firecrackers. A little while later, people started saying that he [Lutfuzzaman] had been killed,” she said.
Demanding justice for her husband, Anondita said, “I will never get my husband back. But I want the police to identify those who killed him and left my two young children without a father, and bring them to justice. I want them to receive exemplary punishment.”
Lutfuzzaman was shot dead in the Telonjia area of Durgapur upazila in Netrokona at around 8:15 pm on Thursday. He worked as the Netrokona correspondent for the private IPTV channel Ruposhi Bangla. He also ran a Facebook page called ‘Detective Article’, where he published articles and videos about various irregularities and crimes.
He was the son of Mohabbat Ali Fakir of Sunai village in Pogla union of Kalmakanda upazila. He lived at his father-in-law’s house in Telonjia.
Visiting the scene at around 10:00 pm, the tea stall where this happened was found on the veranda of a house beside a village road. The area was quiet. The house of Lutfuzzaman’s in-laws was about 20 yards from the shop. Inside, relatives were weeping.
Most residents of Telonjia village belong to the Garo community.
Lutfuzzaman’s paternal aunts-in-law, Nirala Rema and Ruli Rema, said they had been sitting and chatting on the veranda when they suddenly heard a loud noise. They rushed towards the shop and found Lutfuzzaman lying motionless on the ground. Blood was flowing from his head, neck and chest.
According to family members, Lutfuzzaman married Anondita Sagma, daughter of Shila Sagma and the late Philip Rangsa of Telanjia village, about six years ago.
Lutfuzzaman’s wife, Anondita Sagma, said they have two children: a four-year-old daughter, Pranti, and a one-and-a-half-year-old son, Aiyan Safayan.
The scene was visited by Netrokona Superintendent of Police Md Tarikul Islam, Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Mahfuza Khatun, Additional Superintendent of Police (DSB) Hafizul Islam, Durgapur police station Officer-in-Charge Khandakar Shaker Ahmed Khan, Durgapur Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ahmed Sadat, and other police and administrative officials.
According to eyewitnesses and police, Lutfuzzaman had tea at a roadside tea stall in the Telanjia area at around 8:00 pm. After finishing his tea, he set off for Birishiri Utrail Bazar. Realising that he had left his mobile phone at the stall, he returned about three minutes later.
As he was leaving with his phone, two young men arrived at the stall and asked the shopkeeper for cigarettes. They then fired several shots at Lutfuzzaman in quick succession. Hearing the gunshots, local residents rushed to the scene, and the two men fled on foot. Lutfuzzaman was rescued and taken to the upazila health complex, where a physician declared him dead.
Robin Rangsa, the tea seller in Telanjia, told Prothom Alo, “I was washing tea cups at the time. Lutfuzzaman had left his mobile phone behind, so he came back. As he was leaving with his phone, two young men came in and asked me for cigarettes. Then they shot Lutfuzzaman. I heard four gunshots in succession. I was frightened and went inside my house.”
According to Robin Rangsa, the two men appeared to be between 30 and 35 years old. One was wearing a lungi and the other three-quarter-length trousers. They fled when local residents came out after the shooting. He said the shots were fired from close range.
Speaking to journalists at the scene, Superintendent of Police Md Tarikul Islam said the initial assessment was that the killing had been planned beforehand. Several police units were working to arrest those involved, he said. Police recovered pistol cartridge cases and one unexploded round from the scene.
Police said all police stations in the district had been alerted following the killing, and checkpoints had been set up at various locations. CCTV footage from nearby areas was being collected and reviewed.
Earlier, on 10 November last year, assailants had hacked and injured Lutfuzzaman near the Teribazar ferry terminal on the Someshwari River in Durgapur upazila. When a colleague accompanying him tried to intervene, the assailants chased him while brandishing weapons.
Following Thursday night’s fatal shooting, Lutfuzzaman’s body was sent to the morgue at Netrokona Sadar Hospital for an autopsy.