Three unidentified assailants shot Prof Aftab entering into his third-floor residence on Fuller Road beside the British Council on the DU campus.

Prof Aftab was rushed to Samorita Hospital with two bullet hits--one in the chest and one in the hip.

Doctors stated his condition as critical.

Later, Aftab was shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) as his condition deteriorated.

"Prof Aftab needs immediate surgery in the chest," Dr Prof ABM Haroon of Samorita Hospital told The Daily Star, adding that he was shot from a "very short range".

"We are not sure whether the bullet pierced his heart or not. But if the heart was pierced, he would not have survived so long," Prof Haroon said.

Prof Aftab's wife Noorjahan Aftab told newsmen that three persons wearing hats entered her residence at about 8:45pm and shot her husband from a very close range.

"I heard knocks on the door when I was working. As our domestic help asked who it was, one of the three identified himself as one Sagir. He said the Dhaka University VC has sent him to Prof Aftab," Noorjahan said.

No sooner had the girl opened the door, the three stormed into the house and shot Prof Aftab who was strolling in his daughter's bedroom. "I heard firings, but the assailants fled before I reached the room and found him in a pool of blood," Noorjahan told journalists at the Samorita Hospital.

DU VC Prof SMA Faiz told The Daily Star that the DU authority has directed the police to find out the culprits immediately.

Meanwhile, Dhaka University Teachers' Association (Duta) President Prof Sharif Ullah Bhuiyan and General Secretary Prof M Akhtaruzzaman in a statement demanded immediate arrest of and punishment to the culprits. They also demanded security for the university teachers.

Mohammad Rezaul Karim, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, told The Daily Star that they have not yet found any clue to the shooting. "We are investigating the matter," he said.

Talking to The Daily Star, Prof Aftab's nephew Mohammad Ziaul Haque alleged that nobody came to their help after the shooting.

He claimed Prof Aftab had many enemies for his talk shows on different private television channels. However, he did not receive any threats in recent days, Zia said.