Staff Reporter :
SM Nasmus Sadat, one of the accused in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Abrar Fahad murder case, has confessed to a magistrate that he and some other students of his batch called the victim out of his room as per directives of another accused Moniruzzaman Monir. “But I didn’t beat Abrar on October 7,” Sadat, a batch-17 student of BUET, said in his confessional statement before the court on Tuesday.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarafuzzaman Ansary recorded the statement after Detective Branch (DB) Inspector Md Wahiduzzaman, the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, produced Sadat before his court. In his statement, Sadat told the magistrate that Abrar was brought to room No. 2011 of Sher-e-Bangla Hall on October 6. Then seniors from batches 15 and 16 of BUET, including Mehedi Hasan Robein, Anik Sarkar, Ifti Mosharraf Shakal, Muzahidur Rahman Muzahid and Moniruzzaman, started beating Abrar indiscriminately.
While Abrar was being brutally beaten before his death, he repeatedly begged for some water to drink, but he was not given even a drop, Sadat said.
“When seniors were striking Abrar mercilessly, he begged for some water to drink several times. But they [the seniors] did not allow us to provide him with water despite our requests,” said Sadat.
He also said while Abrar was being beaten, he fell seriously ill at one stage. “We wanted to take Abrar to hospital for treatment, but again the seniors did not allow us,” he said.
Around 12:30am on October 7, he left for his room in the hall, Sadat added.
After recording his statement, the magistrate sent him to Keraniganj Central Jail in Dhaka.
Seven of the 20 accused have already made confessional statements in which they narrated the horrific descriptions of torturing Abrar to death.
Abrar, a batch-17 student of EEE Department, was beaten with cricket stumps and skipping ropes for hours by BUET unit BCL leaders and activists at the university’s Sher-e-Bangla hall between October 6 night and the early hours of October 7, leading to his death.
Abrar was struck over 100 times on his knees, legs, soles of the feet, and arms with cricket stumps.
The gruesome murder triggered a firestorm of protests on different university campuses across the country.
Abrar’s father filed a murder case against 19 students of the university, mostly BUET BCL leaders, and several other unnamed accused with Chawkbazar Police Station on October 7.
Detectives have already arrested 20 people, including 16 FIR-named accused, in connection with the murder.
According to the statements, Abrar was taken to the room after the accused suspected him to be an Islami Chhatra Shibir activist and was so severely beaten that he vomited thrice and lost consciousness.
Even when he fell unconscious, the accused said he was feigning and could be beaten for another two hours.
