No classes, exams until killers expelled

Buet students yesterday called off their protests but declared they will boycott classes and exams until the authorities expel those involved in Abrar killing.

They made the announcement at a press conference in front of the Shaheed Minar on the Buet campus after holding a series of meetings.

“Showing respect to the prompt actions taken by  the Buet authorities and law enforcers and the progress made in the ongoing investigation, we are calling off our protests,” said Mahmudur Rahman Sayem, a batch-15 student of the electrical and electronic engineering department and a spokesperson for the protesters.

“We will be watching whether the Buet authorities are implementing our demands,” he added. 

Sayem also said they would organise a mass oath-taking ceremony today to resist terrorism and communal forces on the campus.

Buet teachers and students will participate in the oath-taking, and the field-level protests will be called off at the programme, he said.

 “The general students will not take part in any academic activities until the Buet authorities expel the accused on the basis of the charge sheet submitted by the law enforcers,” he added.

“We do not want to share the same academic culture with the killers.”

ONE MORE CONFESSED TO KILLING   

Buet student Moniruzzaman Monir, an accused in Abrar Fahad murder case, yesterday confessed before a magistrate that he and several others hit Abrar with cricket stumps.

In his statement, Moniruzzaman said he and some others took Abrar to Room No 2011 of the Sher-e-Bangla Hall where he struck Abrar four to five times with a stump, investigators and court sources said. 

He also said several others, including Anik Sarkar, the information and research secretary of Buet BCL, hit Abrar the most, which led to his death. 

After recording Moniruzzaman’s statement, Metropolitan Magistrate Sarafuzzaman Ansary sent him to jail.

Earlier, five leaders of Buet BCL made confessional statements admitting their involvement in Abrar murder.

In another development, detectives arrested ASM Nazmus Sadat, an accused in the murder case, in Dinajpur early yesterday, while he was trying to flee to India.

With Nazmus’s arrest, so far 20 people have been arrested in connection with the murder. He is a batch-17 student of Buet’s mechanical engineering department.

Meanwhile, the same court yesterday placed Shamsul Arefin Rafath, another accused, on a fresh four-day remand after he was produced before the court on completion of his five-day remand. 

The court also ordered to send Akash Hossain, an accused, to jail after his five-day remand.

The grisly murder took place between 7:30pm on October 6 and 2:30am on October 7. The incident sparked protests on university campuses across the country. 

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, while talking to journalists at the secretariat yesterday, urged Buet students, who are protesting Abrar’s brutal murder, to go back to the class as the prime minister has assured Abrar’s parents that there would be quick actions and disposal of the case.

Yesterday, the University Grants Commission requested the public universities to strengthen security measures for teachers, students, officers and employees ensuring round-the-clock monitoring of classrooms, halls and campuses.   

‘ANIK WAS NOT ASSAULTED IN JAIL’

Anik Sarkar, one of the accused in the Abrar murder case who is currently in jail, was not assaulted by inmates or jail police, the BSS reported quoting a senior official. 

“After his arrest, Anik Sarkar was sent to Dhaka Central Jail and kept in a prison cell following proper procedures,” said BSS quoting a statement issued by Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha.

The media reports that earlier said Anik was beaten in jail were false, the statement said.