‘They did not even think they would get arrested’

The Chhatra League men who tortured Abrar to death stalled the police from entering the dorm and in the meantime they cleared out the crime scene. 

Moreover, they reached out to Chhatra League and Awami League central committee leaders asking about what they should do.        

Detectives gleaned such information from the ten accused students of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) who are in police custody now. 

Police in the wee hours of Monday recovered the body of Abrar Fahad, a second year student of the elite technological university of Bangladesh. The 21-year-old student was dumped on the staircase of the university dorm with fatal injuries. 

Earlier on Sunday night, Abrar was summoned by Buet Chhatra League leaders. They allegedly tortured Abrar to death over a Facebook post. 

Police subsequently arrested ten Buet students for their involvement in the brutal murder and took them in custody for quizzing.

Quoting the arrested student, detective branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said Abrar on Sunday evening was summoned to room number 2011 of Sher-e-Bangla Hall on the Buet campus. 

A total of 24 to 25 Chhatra League activists beat up Abrar that night in turns. They stopped when the victim vomited blood. After that, the torturers got no response from Abrar as he lost sense.   

They were suddenly gripped with fear and started arguing over the next course of action. They called the Chawkbazar police station. The plan was to hand him over to the cops, labelling him a Chhatra Shibir activist.       

In the meantime, another faction of the accused students planned to frame Abrar as a drug peddler. They wanted to hand Abrar over to police, tagging him a yaba smuggler.   

Abrar was shifted to room number 2005 amidst such arguments. 

The torturers cleaned up the floor of room 2011. They also brought a fresh set of clothes and changed Abrar so that the signs of torture on his clothes disappear.

In the meantime, police appeared at the hall guest room. But the Chhatra League men were yet to decide which drama to stage — a Shibir activist or a yaba peddler. So they did not allow police to come inside the dorm and told them to leave, saying they would manage the situation. 

The police patrol team left the hall at around 3:30am after waiting nearly for an hour. 

The murderers swiftly dumped the body on a staircase of the dorm. They called the Buet doctor and the teacher appointed to look after residential students. Panic erupted fast as the doctor pronounced Abrar dead.

At this stage, the hall provost came to the spot. The political activists tried to mislead the provost over the cause of death and even argued with the teacher.

As the situation started to get out of their control, the accused called a number of Chhatra League and Awami League top leaders explaining the incident. They were told to stay at the dorm and were assured no harm would happen to them.

"They did not even think they would get arrested in the end," said a detective quoting them in remand. 

Police have so far arrested 12 students among the 19 accused in the murder case filed by Abrar's father. Detective branch officials said they are in hot pursuit to nab the remaining seven.

Several teams of the detective branch are working on the case. 

Deputy Commissioner (Legal and Media) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman told The Business Standard that whoever is involved in the heinous crime would be brought to book, regardless of their political identity.