On August 15, 1975, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the undisputed leader of Bangladesh’s struggle for freedom, was assassinated along with his family members. Thirty-four years later, the murder case was settled.
That day saw the brutal killing of 26 people, including Bangabandhu and Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, as well as their family members and relatives.
Sheikh Kamal: Bangabandhu’s eldest son
Born: Tungipara, Gopalganj, August 5, 1949.
Bangabandhu’s eldest son, Sheikh Kamal, completed matriculation from Shaheen School in Dhaka and higher secondary from Dhaka College and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the Department of Sociology of Dhaka University. He was a student of Chayanat, where he learned to play the sitar. He was an avid organiser of plays, theatre, and cultural events. He was one of the founders of โDhaka Theatre.โ He was a renowned theatre activist at Dhaka University. He had great enthusiasm for sports since childhood. He founded the legendary and well-renowned sports club Abahani Krirachakra.
Sajeeb Wazed urges supporters to pay tribute to Bangabandhu at Dhanmondi 32
Awami League declares month-long programme to mark Black August
His labours and contributions were immense, especially in the development of sports in Bangladesh. He used to practice on the field himself, giving enough time to develop new players.
As an organiser of the Chhatra League, he played a leading role in the independence movement of ’66, the mass movement of ’69, and the non-cooperation movement of ’71. He left home on the night of March 25, 1971, and took part in the Liberation War. He was the ADC of Colonel Osmani as a lieutenant.
On July 18, 1975, he married Sultana Khuku, an accomplished young athlete.
At the time of his death, he was a student at the master’s level at the Department of Sociology at Dhaka University. He passed the final exam. When he came down early that morning after hearing about the house being surrounded by the assassins, he was the first to get shot.
Sheikh Jamal: Second son of Bangabandhu
Born: Tungipara, Gopalganj, April 28, 1954.
Sheikh Jamal, the second son of Bangabandhu, was a freedom fighter and a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
After a period of studies at BAF Shaheen College, he finished his matriculation from Dhaka Residential Model College in Dhaka. He passed HSC from Dhaka College. He learned to play the guitar at a music institution and was also a good cricketer.
Detained with his mother and other members of the family at a house in Dhanmondi during the Liberation War, Jamal found the means to escape and cross over to a liberated zone, where he joined the struggle to free the country. While a student of Dhaka College, Jamal travelled to Yugoslavia for military training under the auspices of the Yugoslav army. Subsequently, he trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Great Britain. He joined the Bangladesh Army as a second lieutenant in the East Bengal Regiment.
Jamal married Rosy on July 17, 1975, less than a month before the assassination. His wife was also one of the victims of the massacre.
Sheikh Russell: Youngest son of Bangabandhu
Born: Dhaka, 18 October 1964.
Bangabandhu’s youngest son, Sheikh Russell, was a student of class 4 when the assassins killed him. Everyone in the house loved him. He was very compassionate to others and very intelligent, too.
In the first hours of August 15, the attackers detained Russell along with the house staff. Terrified, baby Russell said in a tearful voice, “I’ll go to my mother.” Later, after seeing his mother’s body, he begged in a tearful voice, “Send me to Hasu apa (Sheikh Hasina).”
According to private employee AFM Mahitul Islam, “Russell ran and grabbed me. He told me, ‘Brother, they will not beat me, right?’ Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard his voice. An assassin came and hit me with the butt of a rifle. Seeing me getting beaten, Russell let me go. He (Sheikh Russell) was crying and said, ‘I will go to my mother; I will go to my mother.’ An assassin came and said to him, ‘Let’s go to your mother.’ I couldn’t believe that the killers would kill such a small child. Russell was taken inside and was killed in a brush fire.”
Sheikh Abu Nasser: Bangabandhu’s younger brother
Born: Tungipara, Gopalganj, September, 1928.
Sheikh Abu Nasser studied in Tungipara and Gopalganj. Due to physical ailments and his elder brother being busy with politics, he had to join his father in family activities and business at an early age. That’s why he had to live in Khulna city. Later, he was established as a prominent businessman in Khulna.
He participated in the Liberation War and cooperated in various ways. He was at his elder brother’s house when he was killed in 1975. He is survived by a pregnant wife and 4 sons and 2 daughters.
Sultana Kamal Khuku: Sheikh Kamal’s wife
Born: Dhaka, 1951.
Khuku was the younger daughter of Dabir Uddin Ahmed, the Executive Engineer of Dhaka University. She passed matriculation from the Muslim Girls School and Honours from Dhaka University’s Department of Social Science. She participated in inter-sports from school and showed talent in various departments. Khuku became a champion in East Pakistan Provincial Sports, especially in the long jump.
In the 1966 Pakistan Olympics, Sultana Kamal came second in the long jump, and in 1968 in Dhaka, she got a gold medal in the Pakistan Olympics in the long jump with a record of 16 feet distance. Before that, she represented Dhaka University from 1969 to 1970 and participated in national sports and won a gold medal. In 1970, she won the gold medal with a record in the All-Pakistan Women’s Athletics Championships. Won gold in the long jump in 1973. In 1974, apart from the long jump, Sultana set a record and won the gold medal in 100m hurdles. She was one of the best sportswomen in Bangladesh. Bangabandhu saw her before her marriage and blessed her. She was greatly respected as the eldest bride of the house.
Parveen Jamal Rozi: Sheikh Jamal’s wife
Born: Sylhet, 1956.
Rozi was the daughter of Bangabandhu’s younger sister, Khadeja Hossain. Her father, Syed Hossain, was the Secretary of the Establishment Ministry. She passed matriculation from Dhanmondi Girls School and got admitted to the Badrunnessa College for higher secondary education. She had only 30 days of married life. Her hands still had the wedding henna painted on them. After killing Begum Fajilatunnesa Mujib, the assassins shot and killed Rozi and Khuku, who were standing next to her. Both brides came into the house together and left together.
Abdur Rab Serniabat: Bangabandhu’s younger sister’s husband
Born: Barisal, Chaitra 14, 1327.
After passing his matriculation from Barisal, Abdur Rab Serniabat was a classmate of Bangabandhu at Islamia College in Calcutta. They also lived together in the Baker hostel. He was married to Amena Begum, the younger sister of Bangabandhu. After achieving an LLB degree from Dhaka University, he established himself as a lawyer and political leader in Barisal.
In the 1970 elections, he got elected as a member of the National Assembly with a candidacy from the Awami League. He participated in the liberation war of 1971. On April 12, 1972, he became the Minister of Agriculture. He also won the 1973 elections and was appointed Minister of Irrigation and Flood Control by Bangabandhu. He played a very influential role in the Bangabandhu government’s agricultural reforms and assistance to farmers in increasing production. People from every aspect admired him for his honesty and idealism.
Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni: Elder son of Bangabandhu’s second sister
Born: Tungipara, Gopalganj on December 4, 1939.
Moni was a devoted follower of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the organisers of the freedom struggle and Liberation War, the founding chairman of Awami Jubo League, a journalist, the founding editor of Daily Banglar Bani and Bangladesh Times, and the founder of the weekly โCinemaโ and Madhumati Printing House.
Moni passed matriculation from Nabakumar School in 1956, intermediate from Jagannath College in 1958, and achieved B.A. degree from Barisal BM College. Later, he passed his MA from the Bangla department at Dhaka University. He also had an LLB degree from Dhaka University.
Moni got involved in active politics while he was a student. In 1960, he was elected Central General Secretary of the Chhatra League. In 1962, police arrested him for leading a student movement against the notorious Hamdur Rahman Education Commission. He was detained without a trial for six months.
Protesting against the then government’s anti-people education policy and repression, he did not receive his MA degree from the then Governor of East Pakistan, Monayem Khan, in 1964. The administration took away his degree, and arrested him a few days later. They kept him incarcerated until the end of 1965. Several cases were filed against him during this period.
In 1966, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani played an important role in building the movement in favour of the historic six-point charter of independence of Bengalis. He was instrumental in mobilising the working class in the six-point movement and making the historic June 7 strike a complete success. At that time, the government issued a warrant against Sheikh Moni. He was arrested again in July 1966.
After the independence of Bangladesh, Sheikh Moni founded Awami Jubo League on November 11, 1972, by order of Bangabandhu, to organise the freedom fighters and youth society and engage them in nation-building.
He was the founding chairman of the Awami Jubo League. As the president of Tejgaon Regional Sramik League, Moni actively participated in various organisational activities of the Sramik League and Awami League. Sheikh Moni was appointed as one of the editors when Bangabandhu established the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BAKSAL) in 1975.
Moni led the Bangladesh delegation to the Berlin Youth Festival in 1973. He was also actively involved in the world peace movement. He was a successful organiser, orator, and calligrapher. In addition to editorials, he has written many articles under his name and pseudonyms. Britto, a collection of short stories written by him on six points, was published in 1969. In 1974, Moni’s second story collection, โGita Roy,โ was published.
On the fateful night of August 15, Moni and his pregnant wife, Begum Arju Moni, were killed by the assassins. That night, Moni’s eldest son, Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, and youngest son, Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapash, were miraculously saved. Parash was five years old, and Tapash was only three.
Begum Arju Moni: Wife of Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni
Born: Barisal, March 15, 1947.
Arju Moni passed secondary from Barisal Government High Girls School. She completed higher secondary and B.A. degree from BM College in Barisal. She was the eldest daughter of Abdur Rab Serniabat. In 1970, she got married to Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni. In 1975, she passed the MA examination in political science from Dhaka University. Arju, a mother of two children, was shot dead by the killers with her husband while she was pregnant.
Colonel Jamil Uddin Ahmed: Bangabandhu’s chief security officer
Born: Gopalganj, February 1, 1933.
They joined the Pakistan Army as a cadet in 1952 and were commissioned in 1955. After returning from Pakistan in 1973, he joined Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Secretariat and took charge of Bangabandhu’s security.
On August 15, 1975, at 5am, when Bangabandhu told him on the red telephone about the siege of the army residence, he left immediately. But assassins killed him brutally in front of the Sobhabagh Mosque near Bangabandhu’s residence. He sacrificed himself to save Bangabandhu’s life. The nation will forever remember his self-sacrifice.
Baby Serniabat: Abdur Rob Serniabat’s younger daughter
Born: Barisal, May 20, 1960.
She was a ninth-grade student of Dhaka University Laboratory High School. She was with his father when she was killed.
Arif Serniabat: Abdur Rab Serniabat’s youngest son
Born: March 27, 1964
He was a fourth-grade student of Dhaka University Laboratory High School. He was with his father in Dhaka when he was killed.
Sukant Abdullah Babu: Grandson of Abdur Rab Serniabat
Born: Gournadi, Barisal, June 22, 1971.
Babu, the eldest son of Abdur Rab Serniabat’s eldest son, Abul Hasnat Abdullah, was four years old when he was killed. He was visiting his grandfather’s house in Dhaka.
Shaheed Serniabat: Abdur Rab Serniabat’s nephew
Born: Barisal, 26 March 1940.
He completed matriculation from Barishal BM School, and IA and BA from BM College. After passing the LLB examination from Dhaka University, he became a lawyer in the Barisal court. He was the Barishal correspondent of the Dainik Bangla newspaper. On August 15, he was killed while staying at his uncle’s house.
Abdul Naeem Khan Rintu: Amir Hossain Amu’s cousin
Born: Barisal, December 1, 1957.
Rintu appeared for the secondary examination from Barishal Zilla School. He came to Dhaka with a cultural group from Barisal and was killed while staying at the residence of then Agriculture Minister Abdur Rob Serniabat.
English