Two BCL leaders detained over BUET student Abrar's murder

Two leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League's BUET unit have been detained for interrogation over the murder of Abrar Fahad who was allegedly beaten to death in his dormitory, Sher-e-Bangla Hall, early Monday.

BCL is the student wing of ruling Awami League.

The detainees are Mehedi Hasan Russell, general secretary of BUET Chhatra League unit and Fuad Hossain, its joint general secretary. Both of them are students of BUET and residents of Sher-e-Bangla Hall.

Police detained Russell and Fuad on Monday morning and they were being quizzed for Abrar murder at Chawkbazar police station, said Sohrab Hossain, officer-in-charge of the police station.

Abrar, 21, a second year student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) department, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was found dead at the ground floor of his dormitory around 3:00am.

According to Sher-e-Bangla Hall students, some followers of BUET BCL unit's general secretary Russell beat Abrar at room No. 2011 Sunday night.

Three residents of room No. 2011 went into hiding after Abrar had been 'beaten to death'. The absconding three are Amit Saha, BUET BCL unit's deputy legal affairs secretary and student of Civil Engineering department; Mujtaba Rafid, deputy office secretary and student of Chemical Engineering department and Ifti Mosharraf aka Shakal, deputy social affairs secretary and student of Biomedical Engineering department. The fourth resident of the room went to his village two days ago.

According to police and BUET students, Abrar was staying in his hall Sunday night. He could have been called out of his room at night and beaten to death, they added.

Abrar's classmates said that he was possibly killed for his writing on Facebook.

Deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Lalbagh Division, Muntasirul Islam, said, "There were marks of injury in his legs and thighs. He could have died of assault."

"We're looking into the matter with care as BUET is a reputed institution," he added.

Sher-e-Bangla Hall provost, Md Zafar Iqbal Khan, said that they came to know a student was found lying in front of the hall.

"We don't know what happened to him, why he was out of the dorm," he added.

The hall provost also said that they, however, took Abrar to the BUET physician who declared him dead. On information, police came and brought him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

BUET physician Mashuk Elahi said, "Abrar died of injuries."

When asked about Abrar's injuries, Chawkbazar police station sub-inspector Delwar Hossain told Prothom Alo that the injuries he bore were caused as he was hit by some object.

More could be said after postmortem, he added.

Abrar's is from Kushtia. He returned to Dhaka Sunday from his Kushtia home.

"Abrar had no enemies," his cousin Zahirul Islam told Prothom Alo.