A fisherman named Md Farid Talukdar, 55, has died after running to escape what he took to be a fisheries department raid in Kathalia, Jhalakathi.
It happened on Saturday morning in the Chhonauta area of Amua union in the upazila.
Farid Talukdar lived in ward 8 of Bashbunia village in Kathalia upazila. He had long suffered from heart disease and the effects of a stroke.
His family and local sources said Farid set a fixed net to catch fish in a canal in the Chhonauta area at about 2am on Saturday. At about 6am he heard the sound of an engine-driven trawler in the canal and, fearing a fisheries department raid, got out of his boat and ran along the bank.
He then phoned his brother, Abdur Rahman Talukdar, and said: “I think they will take my net today.” Abdur Rahman went to the canal bank and found no fisheries officer there and his brother’s boat lying empty in the middle of the canal. Repeated calls to his phone went unanswered.
While searching, members of the family found Farid lying face down in an orchard in Chhonauta village, about 50 feet from the boat, at about 8:30am. He was taken to the upazila health complex at about 9:30am, where the duty doctor declared him dead.
Upazila fisheries officer Nahida Akter said they conducted a drive that night in Aorabunia union, led by the upazila nirbahi officer, Md Mokbul Hossain. None of their teams carried out a drive in Amua union.
Sub-Inspector Sohel Rana, second officer of Kathalia police station, confirmed the death and said the body had been handed over to relatives for burial as the family had made no complaint.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report