DASHMINA, PATUAKHALI, May 31: In Dashmina Upazila of Patuakhali District, during the dead of night, national daily Jay Jay Din's upazila correspondent Md. Rakib Hossain, 35, wrote a suicide note on Facebook, took poisonous gas tablets and quietly left for the land of no return.
His death occurred on Sunday around 6:30 am on the Dashmina-Barishal regional highway in the Bauphal area.
Rakib was the son of Moktar Melkar of North Char Bishwas Village, Ward no 3, under Char Bishwas Union of neighbouring Galachipa Upazila. He grew up in Dashmina from childhood and adolescence because of his maternal grandparents' home in the Char Hossanabad area of Dashmina.
According to local sources, alongside journalism, Rakib ran a pharmacy business in partnership in Dashmina market. He lived alone in a room on the third floor of a building on the north side of the market. At some point late on Saturday night (May 30), sitting in that room, he wrote a suicide note on his personal Facebook profile and consumed several poisonous tablets. Seeing his Facebook status, his younger sister Jannatul Ferdous (Elo) and stepmother Hena Begum, who live nearby in the Char Hossanabad area, rushed over and shouted in front of the building. Hearing them, an unwell Rakib opened the window and threw down the keys from the third floor.
After getting the keys, his sister Elo and stepmother Hena went upstairs, entered the room and quickly took Rakib to the emergency department of Dashmina Upazila Health Complex. The doctor on duty provided first aid and then, given his critical condition, sent him by ambulance to Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital for better treatment. He died around 6:30 am on the Dashmina-Barishal regional highway in the Bauphal area.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Dashmina Police Station (PS) Md. Atikul Islam told The Daily Observer that as the family had no complaint regarding the incident, and on the request of the family and local dignitaries, Journalist Rakib's body was handed over to his family for burial.
Meanwhile, on Sunday around 10:30 am, Rakib's Janaza prayer was held on the Dashmina Government Model Secondary School ground.
The funeral prayer was attended by the government's State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Md. Noorul Haque Noor, MP, Dashmina Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mahmud Hasan Mridha, Dashmina PS OC Md. Atikul Islam, Dashmina Press Club President Md. Bellal Hossain, General Secretary and The Daily Observer correspondent Shahjada Tohamin, leaders of various political parties, journalists from print and electronic media, and several thousand local people.
After a second funeral prayer there in the evening, he was buried in the family graveyard.
