Five students on remand

A court in Dhaka has placed five students of Dhaka College on a two-day remand in a case filed over the killing of delivery worker Nahid during the recent clashes between students of the college and shopkeepers of New Market. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shanta Akter passed the order on Thursday.

The five are Abdul Kayum, 24, of the accounting department, Polash Mia, 24, and Mahmud Irfan, 24, of the social sciences department, Md Faisal Islam, 24, of the Bangla department, and Md Zunaid Bugdadi, 19, of the Islamic history and culture department, said a DMP press release.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner AKM Hafiz Akter briefed the media on their arrests at a media call earlier in the day.

Police had recovered helmets from their possession during the arrests, said Hafiz, who is also the Detective Branch chief.

Asked if the five were Chhatra League activists, the senior police officer said: “The arrestees have told us Dhaka College does not have a Chhatra League committee. Scores of students got involved in the clashes. [So] a party or a group cannot be singled out.”

Talking about the so-called “helmet bahini”, Hafiz said: “They (arrestees) said to us that many of the students use motorcycles. They took up positions at the front (during the clashes) in their helmets.”

“We want to identify those present in the area during the clashes and bring them to book,” he said. Saying that two murder cases were being investigated, Hafiz said more details would be given later.

On April 18, an altercation between workers of two food shops in New Market escalated when Chhatra League activists were called in by one side. The Chhatra League activists were beaten up and went back to Dhaka College for reinforcements and stormed New Market around midnight.

The ensuing clashes between Dhaka College students and New Market shop owners and workers continued throughout the following day, injuring many on either side.

Nahid, a delivery worker for an Elephant Road computer accessories store, was attacked and injured amid the violence. A store worker named Morsalin was wounded in the head by a thrown brickbat. The two later died while hospitalized.

The families of the two deceased later filed separate murder cases.  Police filed two other cases over the clashes.  The DB is investigating the murder cases, while the police are investigating the remaining two.