BCL men allegedly dump polytechnic principal into pond

Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute's Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders and activists allegedly attacked their principal and threw him into a pond for not fulfilling their 'unfair' demands.

BCL is the student wing of ruling Awami League.

CCTV footage shows at least 10 young men hurriedly dragging Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute principal Farid Uddin Ahmed to the pond on the campus around 1:30pm on Saturday.

"BCL men often come to me with unjust demands which can't be met. As I always turn down their demands, they had grievances against me. Some of them approached me on Saturday morning, asking me to allow two students who have poor attendance records, to fill up certain forms," said the victim.

"I told them to go to the department head. This angered then and they insulted me," said Farid Uddin Ahmed.

He also said, "When I was returning to the campus in the afternoon, one of the BCL leaders intercepted me and asked me to go with him to the pond. When I refused, they forced me to the pond and threw me in."

The principal also said he was lucky that he could swim. "I could have drowned today if I did not know how to swim."
Asked about the incident, Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute's BCL unit president Mehedi Hassan said that they were looking into the matter as they were not sure about it. 

Officer-in-charge of Chandrima police station, Sheikh Golam Mostafa, told Prothom Alo that additional police force, on information, had been deployed there.