RU BCL expels 4 leaders, activists

Mushfik Tahmid Tonmoy, who held the position of Organising Secretary for the Rajshahi University unit of BCL; Raju Ahmed, Joint General Secretary of Sher-e Bangla Fazlul Haque Hall unit; and activists Mohibul Momin Sonet and Shakoan Siddique Prangon.UNB

On Saturday evening, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the ruling Awami League, expelled four leaders and activists from its Rajshahi University unit due to their participation in a proxy exam racket and their involvement in abducting and torturing a student from Rajshahi University for ransom, UNB reports. 

The individuals who were expelled are as follows: Mushfik Tahmid Tonmoy, who held the position of Organising Secretary for the Rajshahi University unit of BCL; Raju Ahmed, Joint General Secretary of Sher-e Bangla Fazlul Haque Hall unit; and activists Mohibul Momin Sonet and Shakoan Siddique Prangon. 

Mushfik Tahmid Tonmoy had previously faced expulsion from the organization in 2022 due to his association with a proxy examination racket. However, his expulsion order was rescinded four months later, in December 2022, by the BCL central committee. 

Tonmoy, who is also a resident of Shah Mokhdum Hall, was one of eleven BCL leaders who were identified by government agencies in November 2017 for their alleged involvement in drug-related activities and the Yaba drug trade. 

A press release signed by BCL central committee office secretary Meftahul Islam Pantho on Saturday evening stated that in view of an unwanted incident happened recently, the four leaders of Rajshahi University unit had been expelled from the organisation for their involvement in anti-organisational, anti-disciplinary and criminal activities. 

Earlier on Friday, the four BCL men were prosecuted in two separate cases for their involvement with proxy exam racket and abducting and torturing Ahsan Habib, who came to the university campus with his mother on Thursday to get enrolled at the population science and human resources department, for ransom. 

The cases were filed with Motihar police station by RU registrar Professor Md Abdus Salam and Rehena Begum, the mother of the student allegedly tortured by BCL men. 

However, BCL leader Mushfik Tahmid Tonmoy denied the allegation and claimed that someone inside the party was hatching conspiracy against him so that he could not contest in the upcoming RU BCL council. 

Earlier, law enforcers and RU administration detained seven people including an assistant upazila social service officer at Gaurnadi upazila social services office in Barishal on charge of acting as proxies on behalf of admission seekers in the entrance test for the arts, law, and social science faculty on 31 May.