Police on Tuesday grilled Anisul Hoque, associate editor of popular Bangla daily Prothom Alo and editor of Kishor Alo, a monthly publication of Prothom Alo, in connection with the tragic death of Naimul Abrar, a ninth grader of Dhaka Residential Model College (DRMC).
Inspector GG Biswas, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station, confirmed the interrogation of Anisul. “If required, we will interrogate anyone in this connection,” he said. According to the sources, police grilled Anisul Hoque for several hours regarding his alleged negligence in taking Naimul to a nearby government hospital immediate after the ill-fated boy was electrocuted. However, Anis denied of the allegations.
Naimul was electrocuted while enjoying a programme organized by Kishor Alo in his school campus. It is alleged that the electric cables, being used for Kishor Alo’s programme’s lighting and sound boxes, were not maintained properly. And after Naimul was electrocuted, the organisers did not take him to the adjacent government hospital, instead they took him to a few miles away Mohakhali’s Universal Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Universal Medical College Hospital authority has said that Naimul had died before he was taken to the hospital. On the other side, Prothom Alo authority, in spite of the DRMC students’ demand and deadline, did not disclose the CCTV footage of the tragic death of Naimul Abrar.
On Saturday, DRMC students formed a human chain in the city and demanded the Prothom Alo authority to release the security camera footage in 72 hours. Till filing the report at around 6:30 pm Tuesday, Prothom Alo did not realize the demand. Earlier on Monday, a legal notice was served on the Prothom Alo and Kishor Alo seeking Tk. 10 crore in compensation for the death of Naimul.
Following massive student protests, the college authorities had also formed a three-member committee to probe into the tragic death. The committee will submit its report within seven days. DRMC students blamed the mismanagement and negligence of the Prothom Alo authorities for Naimul’s death. They also questioned the decisions to continue the programme even after the sad incident.
He was electrocuted by a power generator during a programme organized by Kishor Alo, a supplement of Prothom Alo for young readers, on the school premises on Friday.
Related News: DU students blame Prothom Alo' laxity behind Naimul's death
