Journalist’s body found floating in Hatirjheel

The body of a journalist at GTV, also known as Gazi Television, was found floating in Hatirjheel lake in the capital early yesterday.

Rahanuma Sarah, 32, was the newsroom editor of the channel.

Pedestrians pulled her out and took her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where doctors declared her dead around 2:00am.

Md Saiful Islam, officer-in-charge of Hatirjheel Police Station, said a restaurant employee spotted her floating in the lake.

The OC said whether it is suicide or murder will be known only after getting the autopsy report.

Rahanuma, daughter of Bakhtiar Shikdar of Noakhali’s Sonaimuri upazila, was staying in a rented flat in Kalyanpur area.

Her husband Sayed Shuvro told Prothom Alo that they got married seven years ago without informing their families.

Rahanuma went to her office on Tuesday and did not return home, but sent the flat rent with a person at night.

“Later, I called her and asked why she sent money by someone else instead of coming home. She replied that she was busy and hung up. Later, around 3:00am, we got news that she had jumped into the Hatirjheel lake,” Shuvro said.

He went to DMCH and saw her body there, he added.

“We never had any major fights, but for some time, Rahanuma wanted to live separately. We even went to the marriage registrar’s office for our divorce, but it didn’t happen due to the current situation in the country.”

At 10:54pm on Tuesday, Rahanuma in a Facebook post, said, “It is better to die than to live a life akin to death.”

Soon after, she posted another status at 11:06pm tagging one Fahim Faisal and sharing some photos at Dhaka University. The post read, “Good to have a friend like you. God bless you. I hope all your dreams come true soon. We had a lot of plans. Sorry, I can’t fulfill the plans. May God bless you …”

A few hours later, Fahim wrote on his Facebook page that read, “My friend is no more. Last [Tuesday] night, she spoke to me for the last time. If I had known it was our last conversation, I would have never let her go.”

Speaking to reporters, Rahanuma’s elder sister Rabita Sabah, an assistant professor at Jagannath University, said a girl like Rahanuma, who was involved in various voluntary organisations, was unlikely to die by suicide.

Rabita said she did not know what led to her sister’s death and that police would investigate it.

She claimed that her sister was frustrated with her job and salaries.

Two days ago, Rahanuma wrote on her Facebook page, “Every day, we cover so many protests, but general journalists don’t even have the time to fight for their own rights and dues, like salaries and benefits! Our job is just to cover news, even if it means going hungry.”

After her death, several of her friends on their Facebook pages wrote that she was looking for a new job.

Asked, Sharif Niazi, inspector (investigation) of Hatirjheel Police Station, told The Daily Star that they were looking into all related issues. An unnatural death case was filed, he added.