Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra musician Subrata Sengupta passes away

Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra musician Subrata Sengupta has passed away.

The musician, who had been diagnosed with prostrate cancer, died at Dhaka’s Green Life Hospital early Tuesday, said his wife Joli Sengupta.

Doctors had previously informed the family that the cancer had spread from the prostrate gland to other parts of the body.

Sengupta was also suffering from other complications.

The body will be taken to the Postogola cemetery for his funeral.

Sengupta was the son of Swadeshi Movement leader Sudhir Sengupta.

Sengupta was a student of Barin Majumdar’s music school in Dhaka’s Segunbagicha when the 1971 Liberation War broke out.

After the start of the war, Sengupta went to Agartala and from there to Kolkata and joined the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, the radio broadcasting centre of Bangalee nationalist forces, in 1971.

Sengupta wrote many Liberation War songs, including ‘Rokto Chai Rokto Chai, Ottacharider Rokto Chai’.

Over the course of his career, Sengupta penned 160 songs about the Language Movement and 555 songs about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his wife said.

Sengupta had been bedridden since 2013 due to heart disease. Though he was admitted to hospital several times, he did not get proper care because the family did not have enough to pay for it.

Sengupta had been taken to several hospitals for treatment and was finally admitted to Green Life Hospital.

Sengupta left behind two sons, Subhadip Sengupta and Sangeet Sengupta, both of whom are completing their postgraduate studies.