Court Correspondent :
A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against the 25 accused in the case filed on charge of killing BUET student Abrar Fahad.
Judge of the Trial Tribunal-1, Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman indicted the accused afresh and fixed September 14 for submission of statements in self-defence by the accused.
The court granted an application and re-framed charges against the 25 accused following
an appeal made by the prosecution. Public Prosecutor Abu Abdullah Bhuiyan filed the petition.
“A few things were missed out during the formation of complaint. So, we have applied to the court to indict the accused again,” the Public Prosecutor added.
On October 7, last year, Abrar, a second-year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was beaten to death by several BCL men in the university’s Sher-e-Bangla Hall.
On November 13, last year, Inspector Mohammad Wahiduzzaman of Detective Branch, and also the Investigation Officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet in the CMM Court of Dhaka.
Of the 25 accused, 17 are members of the BUET BCL unit. Most of them have been expelled from the pro-Awami League student organization. Meanwhile, BUET suspended 19 of the accused.
Eleven of the 25 accused directly took part in the killing and struck Abrar with cricket stumps, skipping rope or slapped him for hours, leading to his death, according to the investigators.
The 14 others abetted the killing either by instigating it or calling Abrar to the room where he was tortured or by carrying the unconscious victim to another room and finally to the staircase, they added.
Many took to social media claiming justice in connection with the incident. In the face of protests, the BUET authorities banned all political activities on the campus in October. On October 7, Abrar’s father Barkatullah filed a murder case against 19 BUET students with Chawkbazar Police Station of the city. All have been included in the charge-sheet of the case.
Eight of the accused made confessional statements in the magistrate courts narrating the horrifying torture. Sixty people have been made prosecution witnesses in the case.
