In a startling incident early on Saturday morning, unidentified miscreants opened fire on the parked private car of prominent Bangladeshi pop singer Asif Akbar in Dhaka’s Mogbazar area. The attack took place at approximately 4:45 am directly outside Vishal Centre. Fortunately, the artist was inside his studio office at the time, and no injuries or casualties were reported.
Details surrounding the pre-dawn assault surfaced as law enforcement officials and family members recounted the sequence of events. The artist’s wife, Salma Asif Mitu, shared her account of the unsettling morning, explaining that her husband called her shortly after hearing the gunshot.
“Asif informed me that someone had shot at his car, causing physical damage to the vehicle,” Salma Asif Mitu stated. “He observed the movement on the CCTV monitor from upstairs after hearing the blast of a firearm. The building security guard immediately raised the alarm from the ground floor. By the time he reached the scene, an unidentified person was seen running away into the distance.”
When questioned about potential motives or suspects behind the targetted attack, Mitu expressed utter bewilderment, emphasizing that the singer maintains no known enmities or personal conflicts within the industry or outside it.
“We do not suspect anyone in particular,” she noted. “Throughout our lives, we have never had reason to harbor suspicion towards anyone. Nothing of this nature has ever happened to Asif before. He has always maintained good relations with everyone in society and speaks up for what is fair. This entire episode feels utterly unbelievable. We cannot fathom where this came from or why it happened. Asif is doing well and is currently resting.”
Police authorities swiftly launched an investigation into the venue and the nature of the attack. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Hatirjheel Police Station, Md Asaduzzaman, confirmed that the vehicle was stationary in the designated parking bay of the Vishal Centre commercial complex when the shooter struck.
According to internal police findings, an unidentified assailant arrived near the commercial hub in a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at around 4:45 am. The attacker discharged a single firearm bullet directly at the singer’s parked vehicle before fleeing the scene in the same transport.
Following a emergency call to the national helpline 999, a team from Hatirjheel Police Station arrived to secure the premises and gather forensic evidence. Upon inspecting the vehicle, police retrieved a spent bullet casing from inside the car after opening the shattered rear window.
Asif Akbar, who was present in his personal studio on the third floor of Vishal Centre during the shooting, was unhurt. Police are currently analyzing footage from nearby CCTV cameras installed around Mogbazar and reviewing tracking data to identify the assailant and trace the route taken by the fleeing auto-rickshaw. Investigation into the matter remains ongoing, with officers considering multiple angles to determine the underlying motive behind the targetted intimidation.
