Police recovered the hanging body of senior journalist and former Daily Samakal Barisal bureau chief Pulak Chatterjee, 57, from the newspaper’s Barisal bureau office on Friday evening.
The body was recovered from the office on Parara Road in the city.
According to local sources, Pulak Chatterjee had been dismissed from Samakal about three years ago. He was a former general secretary of the Barisal Press Club and had previously worked for Daily Jugantor for many years. He is survived by his wife and a daughter.
Suman Chowdhury, chief staff reporter at Samakal’s Barisal office, said Pulak had a key to the office and often visited it during the day or at night.
“His wife called me in the afternoon and said he was not answering his phone. When I came to the office in the evening, I found the door locked from inside. Looking through a gap, I saw him hanging with a noose around his neck. I immediately informed the police,” he said.
Police later broke open the door and recovered the body.
Pulak had most recently served as Samakal’s Barisal bureau chief. He had reportedly been mentally distressed since losing his job at the newspaper about three years ago.
Al Mamun-ul Islam, officer-in-charge of Barisal Kotwali Model Police Station, said police initially suspected suicide.
“The exact cause of death will be known after the autopsy report,” he said.