Eyewitness revisits August 15 episode at 32 Dhanmondi

The bloodthirsty killers’ wrath was not pacified until they killed the other members of the family including 10-year-old Sheikh Russell.

Rama said he started staying at the residence since 1969 and continued to stay with Bangabandhu’s family until the August 15 carnage when he was sleeping with another domestic staff Md Selim aka Abdul at the veranda outside Bangabandhu’s room.

“I still cannot stay steady whenever the horrific scene reappears in my mind . . . the darkest memory of my life,” he said adding that the execution of some of the August 15 killers, however, partly soothed him.

Rama recalled as the assailants were approaching the house creating loud noises Begum Mujib asked him to go downstairs to see what happened and “I went down, came out of main gate and saw some army personnel approaching Bangabandhu’s house”.

“Then I returned inside the house and found Bangabandhu coming down in his lungi and sando-genji (nightwear),” Rama said adding that at that point the killers announced their emergence with volley of gunshots and firing artillery shells.

He recalled that as soon as the guards of Bangabandhu's house started hoisting the national flag at 5:30 am, the assassins started their attack directly from the south.

“When I ran upstairs, I saw Begum Mujib was scared and rushing around. Then I went on the second floor and woke up Sheikh Kamal vai and his wife Sultana Kamal,” Rama said.

Sheikh Kamal then quickly went to ground floor wearing a shirt and trousers and Sultana Kamal went down to first floor and woke up Sheikh Jamal and his wife Rosy Jamal.

“Then they quickly went to Begum Mujib’s room,” Rama went on saying.

Meanwhile, Begum Mujib sent Bangabandhu his punjabi and spectacles through domestic aide Abdul and after a while, when the firing stopped, Bangabandhu took the punjabi and glasses from him.

Rama said Bangabandhu he now believes Bangabandhu quickly grasped the situation and kept calling different places.

He recalled traumatized Sheikh Russell was initially kept in the queue in front of the house along with the staff when he hugged Rama and then Bangabandhu’s personal aide Mohitul Islam and said, "Brother, will they also kill me?"

In reply, Mohitul said "no brother, they will not kill you" and then Russell wanted to go to his mother.

One of the killers sacked lieutenant colonel Aziz Pasha asked a soldier to take him to the first floor where he too was shot dead.

According to records and evidence brought before the trial court tqo killers sacked major Bazlul Huda and sacked lieutenant colonel Noor Chowdhury gunned Bangabandhu down on the stairs of the house.

Huda was exposed to gallows after trial in absentia following his extradition from Thailand while Noor Chowdhury took refuge in Canada as diplomatic and legal efforts are underway to bring him back home to face the justice.