Trial of Abrar Fahad murder case begins

The trial of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) student Abrar Fahad's murder case against 25 accused began at a Dhaka tribunal today, with the deposition of the complainant.

Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 of Dhaka recorded the statement of complainant Md Barkat Ullah, the father of the victim, for over an hour.

Later, defence for accused Anik Sarkar started cross-examination of the complainant. As the defence could not complete cross-examination, the judge fixed tomorrow for the next hearing of the case.

In his statement, the complainant told the court that he came to know from people that some students of Buet's Sher-e-Bangla Hall, in a pre-planned way, beat his son Abrar Fahad to death.

Later he came to Dhaka and discussed with some students and teachers and came to know from CCTV footage that 19 students, including Anik Sarkar, beat up his son mercilessly with cricket stumps, sticks and skipping rope, sometime between 8:05pm on October 6 and 2:30am on October 7 last year,with anintent to kill him.

Due to the merciless torture, Abrar died and the students dumped his son's body on the stairs of the first floor. Later, some students took his body to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where the on duty doctors declared him dead, the witness added.

"After collecting CCTV footage, information from other students and teachers and consulting with my relatives, I filed the case against the accused with Chawkbazar Police Station," said in his statement.

The witness also said the accused killed his son due to previous enmity and later, eight of the accused narrated to magistrates how they tortured his son to death.

The complainant sought exemplary punishment for all the accused.

Twenty-two of the accused -- now in jail -- were produced before the tribunal during today's hearing.

Three others have been absconding since the case was filed.

The same tribunal on September 15 framed charges against all the 25 accused in the case.

Abrar, a second-year student of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of Buet, died after he was brutally beaten -- allegedly by some Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men -- at Sher-e-Bangla hall of the university in the early hours of October 7, 2019.

Later, his father filed a case with Chawkbazar Police Station against 19 BCL leaders of Buet unit.