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Published : 23 Aug 2025, 02:39 PM
A day after his body was discovered in the Meghna River, veteran journalist-columnist Bibhuranjan Sarkar’s postmortem has been completed at Munshiganj's 250-bed General Hospital, officials have said.
After the examination on Saturday noon, his body was handed over to his brother Chiranranjan Sarkar. Around 1:15pm, the family left with the body in a freezer van for his residence in Dhaka.
Chiranjan said the body would first be taken to Bibhuranjan’s Siddheshwari home before the cremation at Boro Deshwari Kali Temple and crematorium in Sabujbagh at 3:30pm.
Resident medical officer Sheikh Md Ehsanul Islam said the body had started decomposing slightly and bore no major injury marks.
“We have preserved some samples, including hair and teeth, which are being sent to Dhaka. A final report will be issued after the forensic findings,” he added.
Bibhuranjan, 71, was found dead in the Meghna River near Char Balaki in Gazaria Upazila on Friday afternoon, recovered by River Police. His son, engineer Ritu Sarkar, identified the body at the Munshiganj hospital morgue at night.
Bibhuranjan worked for Ajker Patrika and contributed regular columns to several media outlets, including the opinion section of bdnews24.com.
He sent his last article to bdnews24.com at 9:15am on Thursday, noting in a footnote: “This may be published as my final piece.”
Contacted on Thursday, Chiraranjan said his elder brother had been struggling with depression for various reasons. Later that night, the family received news of his disappearance.
Bibhuranjan’s final article, titled “Khola Chithi”, or Open Letter, was published in the opinion section of bdnews24.com on Friday.
In it, he wrote about his own and his son’s illnesses, his daughter "failing" a higher-level exam as a government officer despite medical leave, his son’s "difficulty" finding a job after graduating from BUET, and his own financial struggles.
The family said he left home on Thursday morning and had left his mobile phone at home.
When he did not return and no one had information about his whereabouts, his son Ritu filed a general diary (GD) with Ramna police late on Thursday night.
