Staff Reporter: Meher Afroz Shaon, the wife of Renowned fiction writer Humayun Ahmed, is concerned about the advance statement and unnecessary fuss of Bishawjit Saha, a New York expatriate bookseller, about the stolen paintings of Humayun Ahmed. She is reluctant to listen to Bishawjit Saha’s unreasonable advance explanation. She said Bishawjit Saha was not accused in the case. His name is nowhere in the case. But I don’t know why he is jumping on the bandwagon. The issue is – ‘Who is in Thakur’s Ghar? I did not eat bananas’. In his speech, Shaon pointed out various types of fraud scams involving New York expatriate bookseller Bishawjit Saha.
Shaon said Bishawjit Saha’s name is nowhere in the case. Why is he protesting after he suddenly jumped? When will you protest, when someone will say something in your name, when you will be accused. But you have not been made an accused and you are protesting. He wants to come to the discussion. Commenting on him, she said why should I give the focus light of the discussion.
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After being diagnosed with cancer, Humayun Ahmed went to New York for treatment. There he often focused on painting to forget the pain of chemotherapy. In June 2012, Ruma Chowdhury and Bishawjit Saha were among the most popular writers in the country. The condition was that they would return the pictures at the end of the exhibition.
A month later, on 18 July, Humayun Ahmed died. His wife Shaon came to the country with the body. When contacted about the photos, in February 2013, Ruma returned 20 of the 24 photos to Humayun Ahmed’s mother Ayesha Fayez’s Pallabi home in Mirpur with her ex-husband Bishawjit. The other four pictures were not returned. It was said that the pictures were lost. But recently Ruma Chowdhury brought to the fore one of the lost pictures in an exhibition. The matter comes to Shaon’s notice.She filed a case in the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on June 29 alleging theft. Ruma Chowdhury has been accused. Although Ruma Chowdhury remained silent on the issue, Bishawjit Saha protested.
He demanded that all the pictures be returned to Humayun Ahmed’s mother. Shaon’s allegations are complete lies.
In a written explanation, Bishawjit Saha said, “In 2013, in the presence of Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and his other sons and daughters, I went to Humayun Ahmed’s mother Ayesha Fayez’s house in Pallabi, Mirpur and handed over 20 of Humayun’s 24 paintings to her.”
Of the remaining four paintings, one was presented by Humayun Ahmed to the then Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the current Foreign Minister Abdul Momen. Another Bangladesh Permanent Mission was gifted. Humayun Ahmed presented a picture to Sabbir Ahmed, the then Consul General of Bangladesh in New York. A picture is lost from the fair. A General dairy (GD) was made at the Jamaican Police Precinct in this regard, a copy of which I handed over to Humayun Ahmed’s mother.
Shaon is angry because he returned the pictures to Humayun Ahmed’s mother. In response to such allegations, Humayun wife’s Shaon said, “Listen, I am not interested to know what he said. There is nothing to comment on it. His name is nowhere in this case. Why is he protesting after he suddenly jumped? When will you protest, when someone will say something in your name, when you will be accused. But you have not been made an accused and you are protesting. He wants to come to the discussion. He commented and asked why I should give the focus light of the discussion. ‘
They returned 20 pictures,” Shaon said. Another photo says that is lost. So if the lost picture is now exhibited by his ex-wife. So he left the picture. They then said that the film was lost in 2012. But the picture is still with his ex-wife. So the picture was not lost, then a lie was told. So we want the picture back. I’m not interested in what he said. I have sued, whatever I say there. I don’t care what he says or where he protests. ‘I am not interested in hearing what the accused said when I filed the case,” he said. If I was interested, I would play games with him. My husband’s paintings, our family property and the case but I did not do it alone. I am the plaintiff but everyone in Humayun Ahmed’s family has filed the case. His sons and daughters are also in this case. So I’m not interested in what he said.
Humayun Ahmed himself presented three of the four missing pictures to the UN local mission, the then Permanent Representative and the then Consul General. Bishawjit also sent some pictures with evidence. As can be seen in those pictures, you are also present there. In this regard, Shaon said, the pictures that were given in the presence of the current Foreign Minister Abdul Momen are different pictures.
I was also there with Humayun Ahmed. There is no connection between the pictures given as gifts and the pictures in the exhibition. He was given pictures, they are different. The picture was given on March 26 in Bangladesh Mission. On the occasion of Bangladesh Independence Day. And he was given the picture in June. But the case file also states that the pictures were given for exhibition in June. Now if I give pictures to Bangladesh Mission on March 26. ‘I’ means Humayun Ahmed. Those pictures are not to be handed over to him again. There is no similarity between the 24 pictures that were given to him and the picture of the United Nations. Those are different pictures. I think I have to clean my place.
BP/SM
