2 more arrested, 2 more on remand, Meftahul makes statement

Two more suspects in connection with the BUET student Abrar Fahad Rabbi killing inside his dormitory on October 7 were arrested in Sylhet and Bhomra land port in Satkhira on Friday.

 

Two of the arrestees were remanded for five days each while a fifth accused made a statement in front of a metropolitan magistrate in Dhaka.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police officials said on Friday, they have so far arrested 18 suspects in connection with the killing inside his dormitory on October 7 and, as of today, two of them gave statements to the magistrate.

According to the investigators and the video footage seized in connection with the case, meanwhile, suggested that the suspected torturers who were arrested over the killing had changed his T-shirt after he had started vomiting due to continued torture over his social media post expressing critical views on India-Bangladesh relations.

The investigators said that the suspected students linked to ruling Awami League-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League admitted the fact during the interrogation but it could not be ascertained whether they changed Abrar’s black T-shirt and put his full-sleeve check shirt to hide marks of injuries.

According to a widely shared CCTV footage seized at the Sher-e-Bangla Hall at the engineering university, the victim, Abrar, was seen escorted by a group of fellow students involved with Bangladesh Chhatra League, including Sadat, Tanim, Billah, Ovi and Saiful, at around 8:13pm on October 6, from his room 1011 towards room 2011, where he was tortured to death.

Abrar was seen wearing a black T-shirt on the footage while he was leaving his room.

But, the photo of his body which went viral showed him in a full-sleeve, maroon-coloured check shirt. 

‘The arrested students told us that they had changed the T-shirt at one point of the interrogation as Abrar started vomiting due to torture. One of them collected his shirt from his room,’ said Jamil Hasan, deputy commissioner at detective branch (south) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. 

According to the footage, Muntasir Al Jemy, who was arrested later, was seen carrying a dress while heading towards room 2011 at around 12:44am on October 7.

At about 1:13am, Jemy, Moaz and Tanim were carrying him to room 2005 on October 1 where he was kept until he was taken towards the stairs at 2:34pm on a mattress.

The Chawkbazar police station officer-in-charge Sohrab Hossain said they had seized T-shirt as ‘an important evidence of killing’ along with other materials from the room of torture and 2005 and 2010, where the cricket stamps were kept after using them in killing him.

Deputy commissioner Jamil Hasan said that they arrested 18 suspects so far over the killing and 14 of them were named in the first information report filed by the victim’s father Barkat Ullah with Chawkbazar police station.

 Of the 18 accused, two were arrested on Friday.

New Age correspondent in Sylhet said that the team arrested Majedul Islam, a 17 batch marine engineering student of the BUET, named in the first information report.

They conducted a raid at Shah Paran area in Sylhet city in the morning and arrested Majedul during the raid.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police official news portal reported that the Detective Branch team arrested Shamim Billah of the marine engineering department at Bhomra landport at around 4:00pm when he was trying to cross over to India.

On Friday, Dhaka’s metropolitan magistrate, Sarafuzzaman Ansari, recorded the statement of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s  BUET unit sports secretary Meftahul Islam Zion of naval architecture and marine engineering department, under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedures and sent him to jail.

The metropolitan magistrate court on Friday remanded BUET students Amit Saha and Mohammad Toha, for five days each. Both were held on Thursday. 

Amit, who is one of the four residents of room 2011, where the incident occurred, was widely named by social media activists who considered him as one of the key suspects in the murder.

Of the four residents, Ifte Mosharrf Sakal and Shamsul Arefin Rafat, were identified through CCTV footage.

Sakal made his statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on Thursday, reportedly after admitting his involvement. 

 

Rafat was not named in the first information report but was identified later on through CCTV footage, the officials said.

The forth roommate was reportedly not involved in any political organisation and had no role in the murder.

However, Amit Saha was neither seen in the footage nor named as a suspect in the case.

Responding to a query about Amit Saha, Detective Branch’s joint commissioner Mahbub Alam said Amit was not present during the incident. He was with his relative outside.

Some messenger chats went viral which suggested that Amit knew of the incident and at one point suggested that perpetrators got Abrar out of the dormitory.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Friday reaffirmed that the charge sheet in the murder case would be submitted soon.

Abrar, a second-year student of the department of electrical and electronic engineering at BUET, was tortured to death by a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders of his dormitory on Monday in the early hours, reportedly for his critical views on social media over the recently signed deals between Bangladesh and India.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net