CU: Investigation against BCL leaders does not see any headway
Five cases were filed against Chittagong University’s leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) over extortion, vandalism and torture six months ago.
University authorities filed four cases while a contractor filed the other. A total of 19 persons were accused in these cases. None of them were arrested.
Although the accused persons are staying at the campus area, the police maintain they don’t find the accused BCL leaders.
The probe bodies formed by CU authorities also did not submit probe reports over the incidents. The university authorities don’t make any comment using the pretext that the allegations are being investigated.
However, senior teachers of the university said the investigation is stalled. The university authorities and the police do not bother about investigating the case as the accused persons are leaders-activists of BCL. They allege the criminal activities of BCL are on the rise in the university due to not taking any steps against these criminals.
In the latest incident, a total of 44 were injured as three factions of BCL clashed for five consecutive days from 14 February. The CU authorities did not file any case over these incidents but formed a probe body. The committee is yet to finish the investigation.
In the latest incident, a total of 44 were injured as three factions of BCL clashed for five consecutive days from 14 February. The CU authorities did not file any case over these incidents but formed a probe body. The committee is yet to finish the investigation.
The five cases filed over four incidents took place on 29 August, 7 and 25 September and 31 January. All the cases were filed with Hathazari police station in Chattogram.
The police complain that the university authorities do not provide information timely, an allegation rejected by proctor Nurul Azim Sikder.
The proctor said the CU authorities provided information whenever the police sought. Action would be taken once the investigation is completed.
Of the four incidents, the one that took place on 7 September was most discussed.
Residence of vice chancellor Shireen Akter, transport department, police box and teachers’ club were vandalized on the day centering on an accident in shuttle train. The university authorities said it incurred a loss of Tk 32.9 million due to vandalism that day.
University’s acting registrar KM Nur Ahmed and security officer Sheikh Mohammad Abdur Razzak filed two separate cases over the incident. The CU authorities arraigned 14 identified persons and 1000 more unidentified persons in two cases.
Twelve accused persons were leaders and activists of various groups of BCL. They are Shafiqul Islam, a leader of the dissolved committee of BCL, Riyad Hossain, Saurabh Bhuiyan, Anisur Rahman, Nasir Uddin Md. Sifat Ullah, Aniruddha Biswas, Md Azimuzzaman, Anik Das, Imran Nazir, Shakil Hossain, Dipan Banik and Noor Mohammad.
However, the police arrested a student named Monirul Islam as an unknown accused in these two cases. He later secured bail. The BCL men abducted, beat up and handed over this student to police on allegation of his involvement with Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. When asked about the progress of the case, inspector (investigation) of Hathajari police station Nurul Alam said that the investigation is underway.
The other case also has a similar fate. BCL leader Raju Munshi allegedly beat up the university’s acting chief engineer on 29 August as he failed to give extortion money. Raju was joint secretary general of BCL’s dissolved committee. In face of protest from officials and staffers, the university authorities filed a case against BCL leader Raju.
On the other hand, the university administration filed a case against unknown persons in the incident of beating four students including a journalist on 25 September. Suman Debnath, sub inspector of Hathajari police station, is investigating the case. He claimed to Prothom Alo that the plaintiff in the case was asked to come but he did not.
The plaintiff Sheikh Md Abdur Razzak, however, claimed that he had handed over the documents of the case to police.
On 31 January, allegations of beating up a contractor for failing to pay extortion money came up against four leaders of BCL. The victim contractor Md Tamzid Uddin filed the case against the dissolved committee’s vice president M Mehedi Hasan, organising secretary Shafayet Hossain, deputy programme and planning secretary Mashrur Kamal and assistant secretary Md Hridoy.
Hathazari police station’s inspector Molla Jahangir Kabir is investigating the case. He told Prothom Alo that a letter has been sent to the CU administration seeking different information about the accused persons but yet to receive any.
Chittagong University Teachers' Association's vice president Muhammad Alauddin thinks crime is on the rise on the CU campus due to negligence of the administration. The university authorities just file cases to quell the situation.
The CU authorities formed two probe committees over three of the four incidents. The investigation is yet to be completed.
CU teachers’ association’s vice president Muhammad Alauddin thinks crime is on the rise in CU campus due to negligence of the administration. The university authorities just file cases to quell the situation.
Police should investigate the incidents properly and bring the accused persons to book, he added.