Who Killed My Husband and Why?

Saifan Abdullah, who will turn ten this June, struggles to comprehend the sudden death of his father. “I don’t like it without Papa… why did he leave us?” he asks repeatedly. His younger brother, Shadman Safin, only three years old, constantly cries and tries to speak to his father on the phone. But those wishes will never be fulfilled.

The two boys are the sons of agronomist Mohammad Shahidul Islam, whose body was discovered on 23 January under mysterious circumstances. This year, Saifan and Shadman will celebrate Eid for the first time without their father. Despite gifts from grandparents, uncles, and other relatives, Saifan’s grief is deeper—he laments not being taken to the market for Eid shopping, a task his father used to undertake.

Shammi Akter, Shahidul’s wife, told reporters, “We are not in a position to take the children for Eid shopping. They are too young to understand that their father is gone. Even Saifan, though older, cannot accept it—he screams and cries.”

Disappearance and Death

Shahidul Islam, 42, was a former research coordinator at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre. He went missing on 21 January while returning from Dhaka to Barisal. On 23 January, police at Shibchar in Madaripur recovered an unidentified body from the roadside, later confirmed to be Shahidul’s.

He lived in Barisal’s Alekanda area with his family and had planned to start his own agricultural farm after his last project concluded in December. Shahidul, the eldest son of retired banker Motiur Rahman of Serajpur village, Kalapara, Patuakhali, had gone to Dhaka on 20 January to settle dues from his previous job.

Shahidul informed Shammi by phone that he would return to Barisal after completing bank work. However, his phone went offline around noon on 21 January. Despite media coverage and public alerts, no immediate information reached the family. The body was discovered near the Surjyanagar underpass, north of the expressway, and photos circulated widely on social media before his father, Motiur Rahman, could identify it on 24 January.

Investigation and Uncertainty

Shammi Akter filed a missing person report, followed by a murder complaint on 27 January. CCTV footage showed Shahidul boarding a Turag Transport bus, but further surveillance was not retrieved. His last phone location was tracked in Ekuria, Keraniganj, at 12:32 pm on 21 January.

Shibchar Police Superintendent Shafiqul Islam stated that there has been no significant progress in the case. Some evidence, including CCTV footage, has been collected, but the forensic report has yet to be completed.

A Family Left in Void

Shammi Akter, a history graduate from Dhaka University and former school teacher, now lives with her children at her in-laws’ home in Patuakhali. Saifan has been enrolled in the fourth grade there. The family farm initiated by Shahidul remains unfinished, now maintained by his elderly father. Shammi also reports attempted scams exploiting Shahidul’s disappearance.

She said, “With my mother gone, my father aged, and my brother abroad, I face each day with unknown fears. I just want to know—who, why, and how took my husband’s life?”