Abu Talha

He dreamt of becoming a businessman like his father, but he could not live that dream, as his life was cut short yesterday by muggers when he was only 22 years old, hoping to graduate in computer science and engineering. 

Khandakar Abu Talha, a second year student of Daffodil University, fell prey to muggers near his home in the capital's Tikatuli in the morning and lost his life having been stabbed by them.

It was around 6:30am when Talha was going to Motijheel by a rickshaw to catch a bus to Ashulia. Only 50 yards ahead of his home in front of a departmental store on R K Mission road, he was stopped by two muggers who snatched away his mobile phone and money brandishing sharp weapons. 

That could be the end of a regular mugging story and he could join his class at the university.  But there was more to it. 

A minute after Talha got mugged, the criminals stopped another rickshaw. Two locals, Sunny and his sister Sadia, who were on it, started shouting for help when Talha responded.

“As Talha grasped one of the muggers from behind, the mugger first stabbed him in his hands and then in his right thigh,” said Faruk Ahmed Sujon, a cousin of Talha. He started bleeding profusely.

Sunny and some others tried to catch the muggers, but they fled by an auto-rickshaw that had been parked nearby.

Talha was rushed to nearby Salahuddin Hospital. As his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 7:30am. He succumbed to his injuries within half an hour there, Sujon said.

In the police inquest report, it was stated that there were deep cut marks on his right hand, injury marks on his left hand and a biting mark under his right elbow. On his right thigh, there were two marks of stabbing.

Talha used to live in Ashulia near the university campus. Every weekend, he came home.

“He [Talha] left home in the morning for his university. I was taken aback when I heard him speak with his voice trembling and saw him bleeding,” said the grieving father, Khandaker Nuruddin, deputy manager of JBF Digital Trading Company Limited. He could not speak anymore.

Nurul Amin, additional deputy commissioner of Wari zone, said police analysed the footage of nearby CCTV camera.

“We have seen two suspected muggers in the footage, but they were actually three. Our team is working to arrest the culprits,” he added.

Talking to local people, The Daily Star learnt that the neighbourhood of R K Mission road is a mugging prone area. They urged the authorities to increase police patrol.