Zealot attack victims Tutul, Basu better; Rahim still critical

The condition of the ‘Shuddhaswar’ publishing house owner, Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, and writer Ranadipam Basu has improved, but that of blogger Tarek Rahim’s is still ‘not good’, says the director of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 1 Nov 2015, 04:56 PM
Updated : 1 Nov 2015, 04:56 PM

Brig Gen Mizanur Rahman on Sunday said: “Tutul and Ranadipam are improving. But Tarek’s left hand is not in a good condition. He underwent a surgery yesterday (Saturday).
 
“All of them, however, have been shifted to cabins today,” he told bdnews24.com.
 
The three men had been hacked in Tutul’s office in capital Dhaka’s Lalmatia around 2:30pm on Saturday.
 
Rahim was also shot on his waist.
 
A witness, who was locked in another room with several others by the assailants, told bdnews24.com that three men had barged into Shuddhaswar’s office and announced that they had ‘come to kill Tutul’.
 
'Shuddhaswar' had published a number of books of writer-blogger Avijit Roy, who was murdered by machete-wielding killers on the Dhaka University campus in February this year.
 
Rahim, who is an engineer, is a friend of Tutul and often visits his office.
 
Grameen Bank official Basu got acquainted with Tutul through writing. A book he wrote on Indian philosophy was published earlier this year.
 
Basu’s friend Probhas Das told bdnews24.com that the writer went to Shuddhaswar’s office on Saturday to discuss the release of another book in next year’s Amar Ekushey Book Fair.
 
He said, “After the attack, Ranadipam himself told me about the incident over phone. I, then, informed others.”  
One of Tutul’s relatives waiting outside his cabin at DMCH told bdnews24.com: “He tried to speak in the morning (Sunday). But we couldn’t understand what he said.”
 
Two hours after the attack on the three on Saturday, another publisher of slain writer Roy, 'Jagriti Prokashony' owner Faisal Arefin Dipan was hacked to death in his office on the second floor of Aziz Supermarket at Shahbagh.
 
The publishing house had published Avijit Roy's popular title ‘Biswaser Virus’ (Virus of Faith).
 
The book was a hit with rationalists and freethinkers, but it had upset Islamist radicals, who are suspected to be involved in Roy’s murder.