Staff Reporter :Several hundred agitated Madrasah students on Tuesday allegedly vandalised and set ablaze a railway station over the death of a fellow following a clash between students and businessmen in Brahmanbaria the previous day. The rail communications of Dhaka with Chittagong and Sylhet remained suspended for several hours following the vandalism which created immense sufferings to the passengers. Following the death of the madrasah student, a tense situation is prevailing in the district town.The deceased was identified as Hafez Masudur Rahman, 25, a student of Jamia Yunusia Madrasah. He was the son of Hafez Mawlana Ilyas, a resident of Vadugar under Brahamanbaria municipality. Taposh Ranjan Ghosh, Assistant Superintendent of Brahamanbaria Sadar Police and Akul Chandra Biswas, Officer-in-Charge of Sadar Police Station, have been closed for their negligence of duty. The clash between the local madrasah students and businessmen reportedly triggered over a trifling matter of purchasing a mobile handset at Zila Parishad Market in TT Road in the town on Monday night. Later, activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League reportedly involved with the clash. Shafiqul Islam, Assistant Superintendent of Police of Brahmanbaria Headquarters, said, “Hafez Masudur Rahman received injuries in the triangular clash in a shop at the market around 7:45pm on Monday over purchasing of a mobile phone set. Masud succumbed to his injuries in a local hospital on Tuesday morning. Besides, 30 others were also injured in the incident.”As the death news spread, enraged madrsah students came to the street and took position at different points in the district town. They also gheraoed local police station till 12:45pm. Later, they entered the railway station in procession and made random attacks. The unruly students damaged a computer used for selling tickets, CCTV cameras, some furniture at the station master’s room and broke the signaling machine in the control room, the ASP aid. Police fired around dozens of rubber bullets and tear-gas shells to bring the situation under control, he said.At least three trains have been stranded at Bhairab Rail Station of Kishoreganj district as protesters uprooted the tracks in Mourail rail gate area of Brahmanbaria town in the morning, said Sayedur Rahman, assistant director of Bangladesh Railway.He said, “We were compelled to halt three trains – Subarna Express, a local train, and another because of the violence.” Authorities have deployed four platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in the area to ward off any untoward incident, said BGB-12 battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Nazrul Islam.Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Akul Chandra Biswas said that Madrasah students blockaded the railway station around 8:30am. Police have been kept alert to tackle any unwanted situation, he said. A case has been filed with the police station in this connection. In the meantime, the government has formed a three-member inquiry committee headed by Additional DIG Mahfuzur Rahman to investigate the incident and asked to submit its report within three days.
