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Abrar’s death

Family finds it hard to accept


Published : 07 Oct 2019 08:53 PM | Updated : 26 Aug 2020 04:18 AM

The family of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Abrar Fahad is scrambling to come to terms with his murder. His house in Kushtia is in mourning with relatives still at a loss for why the 21-year-old was killed. “My son didn’t have any enemies. Our entire family supports Awami League,” says Abarar’s grief-stricken mother Rokeya Khatun. “Why was my son killed? I want exemplary punishment for the murderers.”

A teacher at a local kindergarten, Rokeya said that he started for Dhaka from Kushtia the day of his murder. She said that her son spoke to her a number of times throughout the day but stopped answering his phone at night. Meanwhile, Abrar’s classmates said that he was killed due to his status on social media platform Facebook regarding the recent instruments Bangladesh signed with India.

Although they gave an ultimatum to the university authorities, neither the police nor BUET authorities have said anything about the motive behind the murder. Abrar’s younger brother Abrar Foyez said that he knocked his brother on Facebook Messenger when he didn’t pick up the phone. “He was active but didn’t reply.”

Meanwhile, his uncle Mizanur Rahman said that associating Abrar with Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir is propaganda. “Abrar was a very open-minded and progressive boy. He did attend Tablig’s and went there two or three times since getting admitted to BUET,” he said and reiterated that his family is a supporter of the ruling party.

His classmate Abdullah Al Mamun echoed saying that he wasn’t involved with politics of any kind. Police said that investigations indicate that Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), was beaten to death. He was found dead in the stairway of his dormitory in the early hours of Monday.

Quoting the students, police said, Abrar, a resident of Sher-e-Bangla Hall, was called up from his room at 730 pm on Sunday. Later, his body was found on the first-floor stairway at 2 am. He was beaten to death for his suspected links to the Chhatra Shibir—media reports said.