Eight-year-old Saiq could not understand the gravity of the situation and simply made some queries, typical of every child his age. "Why was there so much blood on the street? Why did they cover my father with a white cloth?" he asked. But nobody was courageous enough to answer and make him understand the harsh truth of life.

Dr Mohammed Shajahan Ali, a vivacious young man with all aspirations in life, was killed in a road accident in the city last Tuesday: a car hit

Shahjahan riding his motorbike and dragged him over one kilometre to a horrific death.

A brilliant student from his childhood, Ali studied under scholarship in Bonpara Missionary School and then in Rajshahi Government College. He was a student of the first batch of MBBS at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

He proved his merit in every exam and was scheduled to sit for the second year final examination of a three-year MS course on July 20. But all came to an end with his death.

"One cannot imagine how helpful he was to people," said Sabina Yasmin,

Ali's sister-in-law. "He was an altruist by nature," she said. Ali worked in the government hospitals in Lalmonirhat, Kaliganj and Pabna after he got through Bangladesh Civil Service exams. "He used to pay for medicine for the patients, let alone asking for consultation fees," Sabina said.

Ali's memory did not disappear from the memory of the people in Pabna and Kaliganj. There was a stream of visitors and numerous phone calls from people of those places when they read the report of his death in newspapers.

"Ali never discriminated between the rich and the poor or the known and the unknown," one of his relatives

sobbed. "He behaved equally to all," he added. "It is a great loss for us that he left us so early."

It would be impossible for Shahina Yasmeen, the doctor's wife, to come out of the nightmare sketched deep in her memory. The incident of her husband being dragged by a car to sure death took place in front of her.

"Imagine how frantic and helpless she felt when she could do nothing to save her husband," said Tahera Sultana, her sister-in-law. She said that nothing could ease Shahina's pangs. The memory of Dr. Ali she married in 1991 is the only prop for her to live by.

"We cannot call it an accident," said

Tahera. "This was a simple case of murder," she said, eyes full of tears. She said Dr. Ali would have suffered some minor injuries if the killer driver had not dragged him a long way.

So many cars were running parallel to the killer car but no-one tried to block its way, she said. "It seems people are devoid of feelings or compassion these days," she said out of frustration.

Dr. Ali, who lost his parents in childhood, was brought up by his only brother 18 years older. The shock of losing the younger brother is hard to absorb. Ali's body was sent to his native village in Natore, where he was laid to rest beside his parents' graves.