The trial of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology BUET student Abrar Fahad's murder case began on Monday. The trial of the sensational murder began with the deposition of the complainant.
Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 of Dhaka recorded the statement of complainant Md Barkat Ullah for more than four hours. Barkat is the father of the victim.
Later, defence lawyer of the accused Anik Sarkar started cross-examination of the complainant. As the defence lawyer could not complete cross-examination, the judge fixed Tuesday (October 6) for the next hearing of the case.
In his statement, the complainant told the court that he came to know from people that some students of BUET Sher-e-Bangla Hall, in a pre-planned way, beat his son Abrar Fahad to death.
Later he rushed to the capital Dhaka and talked to some students and teachers. At one stage, he came to know from CCTV footage that 19 students, including Anik Sarkar, beat up his son mercilessly with cricket stumps, sticks and skipping rope, sometime between 8:05pm on October 6 and 2:30am on October 7 in 2019, with an intention to kill him.
Abrar’s father Md Barkat Ullah further said, “Due to the barbaric physical tortures, Abrar died on the spot. After his death, the students left his son's body on the stairs of the first floor. Later, some students took his body to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where the on duty doctors declared him dead.”
“After collecting CCTV footage, information from other students and teachers and consulting with my relatives, I lodged the case against the accused with Chawkbazar Police Station,” he added.
He told the court that the accused killed his son due to previous enmity. Later eight of the accused confessed to magistrates how they tortured his son to death.
The complainant sought death penalty for all the accused.
Twenty-two of the accused who are now in jail, were produced before the court during the hearing.
Three others have been absconding since the case was filed.
On October 7 last year, Abrar, a second-year student of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of BUET, died after he was brutally beaten by some students at Sher-e-Bangla hall of BUET.