Relatives of Sumon Zahid believe the martyred intellectual’s son did not kill himself

The relatives of Sumon Zahid are not ready to accept the theory that the son of martyred journalist Selina Parvin has died by suicide or accident.

Selina’s sister Shelley Shahabuddin suspects Sumon was murdered for being a witness in a war crimes case against Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who were sentenced to death and are now living in the UK.

Police initially said they believe Sumon, 57, died after being cut off by a running train in Khilgaon Bagicha area near his home in Dhaka on Thursday morning.

Shelley, a medical doctor, said in an email to bdnews24.com from abroad that she also suspects radical Islamists could be behind the ‘murder’ of Sumon.

She pointed that the body was found separated next to the railroad. “I know that dying by suicide in that way is impossible. A man’s body gets scarred if he is run over by a train. The newspaper reports do not suggest so.”

She also said Sumon struggled much after losing his mother when he was a child and was not raised in a way that he could kill himself.

Zahid Hossain, one of Sumon’s cousins, also said they never thought that Sumon could die by suicide.

“Or was he forced to kill himself? Did someone threaten him with deaths of his family members if he did not kill himself?” Zahid asked.

He also said Sumon had felt embarrassed when the authorities arranged police security for him after he had testified as a witness in the war crimes case. Later police withdrew the security detail.  

Zahid said Sumon had filed a police complaint over threats following his writings on the Liberation War on the social media.

He claimed there was no problem in Sumon’s family that could lead him to his death. Sumon lived in Shahjahanpur with his wife and two children.

Inspector General of Police Jabed Patwary said they were investigating the death.

They were waiting for post-mortem examination report to know what caused the death.

“We can’t say yet whether it is a murder or suicide or something else,” he said.

Sumon was buried in his mother's grave at the Azimpur Graveyard in Dhaka on Friday afternoon. 

Earlier, the body of music composer Ahmed Imtiaz Bulbul's brother was found beside a railroad.

Bulbul, who was also a witness in a war crimes case, described his brother’s death as a planned murder.

Sumon was a staffer at Farmers Bank. He left the job four months ago, according to his relatives. He had briefly worked as a journalist.

Al-Badr members picked up his mother Selina Parvin from her New Circular Road house in Dhaka on Dec 13, 1971, when Sumon was 10 years old. Later on Dec 18, her body was recovered from Rayerbazar mass grave.