Both DB, RAB now claim Fardin died by suicide

The Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the Rapid Action Battalion concluded that Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) student Fardin Noor Parash died by suicide, contradicting their earlier claims.

The law enforcement agencies had earlier stoked heavy debate by claiming that Fardin might have been killed by drug peddlers or over a dispute related to his relationship with his girlfriend.

The claims were denied by fellow BUET students and Fardin's family members.

On Wednesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Detective Branch) Harun-or-Rashid said their investigation found that Fardin had jumped into the Sitalakhya River from the Sultana Kamal Bridge. 

He said Fardin was frustrated due to his gradual academic decline and the situation was exacerbated when he could not manage the money to attend a debating event in Spain.

During a briefing at the DB office, Harun also said they found no marks of torture on Fardin's body, claiming he roamed around alone in places during the night of November 4. 

Soon after the DB briefing, the RAB met journalists claiming the same. 

RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandaker Al Moin said they scrutinized digital evidence, CCTV footage, call records and mobile location to determine that the BUET student had jumped off the Sultana Kamal Bridge at 2:34am that night. 

"We have seen Fardin board a human haulier from Jatrabari Bibir Bagicha area. At around 2:20am, he got off at the Tarabo Bishwa Raod area, on the opposite side of the bridge. He went to the middle of the bridge at around 2:34am and later jumped off on his own." 

Asked why he had wounds on his body and head, the RAB official said he might have hit the base of the bridge's pillar, which caused the injuries. 

On earlier claims of Fardin being there to buy drugs and being beaten by drug peddlers, Moin said they had investigated several different motives and the locations to uncover clues.

On the chance of Fardin being mugged and murdered, he said the bridge was too busy an area for that to happen. 

The CCTV footage given by the RAB, however, was not clear. But RAB officials said the family had agreed that it was Fardin.

The decomposed body of Fardin, 23, was recovered from Sitalakhya in Siddhirganj, Narayanganj, on November 7 afternoon, three days after he went missing.

Kazi Nuruddin Rana, Fardin's father, filed a case concerning his son's killing at the Rampura Police Station on the same day.    

Fardin's friend Amatullah Bushra was placed on remand in police custody in connection with the murder case and later landed in prison. 

She is still in jail, accused of Fardin's murder. 

The court will decide her sentence after the latest reports from the agencies are submitted before it. 

Fardin was a third-year student of Buet's civil engineering department and a resident of the Qutubpur area in Narayanganj's Fatullah.