Mother files case over murder of 10th grader in Ashulia; claims she was unaware of case filed previously over son's killing

The mother of As-Sabur, 16, a tenth-grade student who was killed during the anti-discrimination movement in Ashulia on 5 August, filed a murder case accusing 40 individuals, including the former Dhaka-19 MP Md Saiful Islam, last night (18 August). 

This is the second murder case filed over Sabur's death. On the night of 16 August, the first murder case was filed by Md Sahid Hasan, identifying himself as Sabur's neighbour and cousin, and accused 119 individuals, including former Dhaka-19 MP Md Touhid Jung Murad (Murad Jung), besides Md Saiful Islam. 

In his filing, Sahid named Enaf Nayer Zakir as Sabur's father. 

However, As-Sabur's family claimed they were unaware of any previous murder case filed concerning his death. The family said they fear the earlier case filed over the murder might have been "motivated by monetary gain."

Talking to The Business Standard, Sabur's mother, Rahen Jannat Ferdousi, has claimed the father's name was wrong in the murder case that was filed previously. 

"A case was filed at Ashulia Police Station regarding the murder of my child, yet none of our family knew about it. An unknown person, claiming to be a 'neighbour and cousin,' filed it. He has also provided many incorrect details in the case, even getting my son's father's name wrong," Rahen Jannat said.

"The guy listed many people in the case. Do we know all these people? Why would we name all of them? And why would he file a case on our behalf? He didn't even contact us. I tried calling him to ask about the case, and he didn't even know me," she added.

"The person couldn't recognise my son's name either. Can you imagine the situation? We will now have to file a case against him at the station," Rahen Jannat further said. 

When asked why someone might do something like this, Sabur's mother said, "I suspect someone might have paid him to file the case for some specific purpose."

She also mentioned that in the previous case, it was stated that Sabur was found in a bloody state. 

"However, after murdering my son, the killers brutally burned his body. Later, we recovered my son's charred body from a police van parked in front of the Ashulia Police Station. Additionally, we wanted to file a case against the main four-five people, including the MP from Ashulia, who were responsible for the entire incident, and named others as unknown because we do not know everyone," she added.

Rahen Jannat claimed they had to mention so many names in the case just because the previous case filed by someone else had listed so many people. 

When asked how his son's burnt body was identified without DNA testing or any other examination, she said, "The SIM card in my son's mobile phone was active. We identified him through his phone and SIM card. We also recognised the body upon seeing it."

When contacted, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Ashulia Police Station, AFM Sayed, confirmed to TBS that Sabur's family had filed the case today.

When asked about the filing of two separate cases on the same incident, the police officer said, "There are differences in the father's name in the two cases. We have taken both cases and will be able to provide more details after the investigation."

Attempts were made to contact Md Sahid Hasan, also known as Mithu, the plaintiff of the first case filed earlier regarding this incident. But he did not answer the phone despite multiple calls.

As-Sabur, a resident of Mahadebpur village in Naogaon district, lived in a rented house in the Jamgara Shimultala area of Ashulia with his family and was studying in the tenth grade at Shaheen School.

According to the documents of the case filed by his family, As-Sabur left his home around 9:30am on 5 August to join a student movement against indiscrimination. 

He was in contact with the plaintiff (his mother) until about 3pm that day. 

The next day, 6 August, around 5pm, Sabur's burned body was discovered at the Baipail turn under Ashulia police jurisdiction. He was later buried in his hometown village of Mahadebpur in Naogaon district. 

Sabur's mother later found out that the suspects mentioned in the case had beaten As-Sabur on 5 August, shot him to death, and subsequently burned his body.