Fardin murder: Bushra back in jail; no link found yet

Investigators are yet to find any involvement of Amatullah Bushra in the murder of Buet student Fardin Noor Parash.

A friend of the deceased, Bushra was named as the prime accused in the first information report (FIR).

Rajib Al Masud, deputy commissioner of Motijheel division of the Detective Branch of police, which was tasked with the murder investigation, told The Daily Star yesterday they are yet to find any links between Bushra and Fardin's death.

"What she said during interrogation has so far been found to be true."

The official, however, did not disclose what Bushra said during her five-day remand.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday rejected her bail plea and sent her to jail after she was produced there following the remand.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ataullah passed the order.

In the forwarding report, Md Mojibur Rahman, the investigation officer of the case and a DB inspector, said Bushra was interrogated intensively about the killing following the higher court directives and the information she gave was being verified.

As such, she needs to be kept in jail until the investigation is complete. "If she gets bail, she may tamper with the investigation or go into hiding," the IO added.

The defence, however, submitted a bail petition, saying their client was implicated in the case on vague allegations.

Upon hearing both sides, the magistrate turned down the defence's plea and ordered to send her to jail.

On November 10, a Rampura police  team arrested Bushra, a third-year student of East-West University, from Banasree, two days after Fardin's father Kazi Nuruddin filed an FIR against her.

Bushra's family has been claiming that she was just a friend of Fardin and had nothing to do with the murder.

The decomposed body of Fardin, a third-year student of civil engineering at Buet, was recovered from the Sitalakkhya in Narayanganj's Siddhirganj on November 7 -- three days after he went missing.

Rab conducted a shadow investigation into the murder and also said it did not find any evidence of Bushra's involvement yet.

It said Fardin might have been killed by a drug gang member in the Chonpara slums or adjacent areas in Rupganj. However, the motive is still unknown.

A drug ring, led by one Raihan Mahmud, is suspected to be directly involved in the murder, said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing.

However, the DB earlier on Saturday said police were suspecting that Fardin was killed somewhere in Dhaka.