Daily Star sacks Executive Editor Ashfaqul Haque two months after maid's death

English newspaper The Daily Star has issued a termination notice to its Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque, who is currently in jail in a case filed over the death of a teenage maid after falling from his flat in the capital.

According to the notice published on its website today, Ashfaqul joined the newspaper in 1993 in the sports section and worked as Sports Editor, Joint News Editor, News Editor, Chief News Editor, and finally as its Executive Editor from 2019 till date.

Ashfaqul and his wife Tania Khondoker were sent to jail on 7 February in a case filed over the death of Preeti Urang, a teenage domestic help at their eighth-floor flat in the capital's Mohammadpur.

Preeti Urang, daughter of a tea worker in Sylhet's Moulvibazar, fell to her death from the eighth-floor apartment of Syed Ashfaqul Haque on 6 February.

The next day, her father, Lukesh Urang, filed a case with Mohammadpur police station, against Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker.

Following the filing of the case, both accused were promptly arrested.

Lukesh, in the case, said Preeti fell from the apartment due to the absence of safety bars on the window of the flat's drawing space. He highlighted that a similar incident occurred in August last year, where another housekeeper sustained severe injuries from falling out of the same window.

Lukesh attributed these repeated accidents to the negligence and carelessness of the house owner and occupants, emphasising the lack of protective barriers on the windows as the root cause.

On 13 February, the couple were put on a four-day remand in the case and on 18 February, they were sent to jail again after the remand.

Last year, another teenage maid also fell from Ashfaqul's apartment and suffered severe injuries.