Ekushey Padak-winning poet and freedom fighter Mohammad Rafiq passed away on Sunday night. He was 80.
He breathed his last around 9:30pm while he was being taken to Dhaka from Barishal for better treatment.
His cousin and Bagerhat Belayet Hossain Degree College’s Management Department chairman Md Shibly confirmed the death to Jago News.
His family source said poet Rafiq fell sick while staying at his village home at Chitli-Boitpur in Bagerhat on Sunday morning. He was first taken to a hospital in Bagerhat and then to a private clinic in Barisal where the on-duty doctor advised the relatives to take him to Dhaka. On Sunday evening, the family members left for Dhaka for his better treatment but he died on the way. His body was then taken to his village home.
Mohammad Rafiq was born on October 23, 1943 at Chitli-Boitpur village under Bemorota union in Bagerhat.
He worked as a teacher at Chittagong Government College and Dhaka College. After working in the Department of English of Jahangirnagar University for three decades, he retired in 2009.
He received Alaol Literary Award, Bangla Academy Award, Ekushey Padak, Gemcon Literary Award, Prothom Alo Sahitya Puraskar and Kabi Jasimuddin Sahitya Puraskar.