6 Students Killed by Mob
Police to probe now police case
Police high-ups have no confidence in the case filed by Savar police regarding the killing of six students in Aminbazar on Monday, in which the victims are labelled as robbers.
The police headquarters hence formed a four-member committee yesterday to probe the matter.
“We have formed the committee sensing something fishy,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker told The Daily Star yesterday.
On Monday, a mob killed six students on Monday, locals of Baradeshi village beat to death six students and left one severely injured on Keblarchar in Aminbazar suspecting the students to be robbers. The villagers swooped on them with sticks and sharp objects.
“Apart form unfolding the mystery behind the killings, the committee has also been asked to recommend the means of stopping such barbaric events from recurring,” said the IGP, adding that the committee will submit its report within 10 working days.
Headed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Admin) of Police Mohammad Amir Uddin, three other members of the committee are Md Masud Karim, special superintendent (SS) of Special Branch, Sheikh Md Rezaul Haider, SS of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and Dhaka district Additional Superintendent of Police Sheikh Rafiqul Islam.
The families of the victims have also rejected the police case saying that the law enforcers favoured the killers. They said they would file separate cases with police after Sunday and if police refuse to record their cases they will go to the court.
Meanwhile, Prof Mizanur Rahman, chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), yesterday termed the death of six students a cold-blooded murder.
“It was an extra judicial killing,” he said while addressing a programme in Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University.
While the administration is calling it an isolated incident, Rahman believes that such incidents are occurring very often these days.
Following Monday’s incident, Abdul Malek, a sand trader, filed a case against the seven victims saying that locals beat them up after the students robbed his trading centre.
Later, a second case was filed by Sub-Inspector (SI) of Savar Police Station Anwar Hossain against 600 unnamed people.
Both the cases have a peculiar resemblance. The SI in his case statement branded all the seven victims as robbers as did the sand trader in his.
The SI did not mention the victims as students although he talked with their parents and relatives and collected their details before filing the case.
His statement reads, “I recovered six bodies of unidentified robbers and arrested another from the spot. I took their photographs and seized six sharp weapons and a cell phone found on the spot. I collected the details of all the deceased and the injured robbers and prepared their police inquest report.
“There is a delay in filing the case as I have been busy in collecting the details of the robbers and arranging treatment for the one who survived.”
Asked why Savar police branded the victims as robbers prior to any investigation and made the same statement as the sand trader, IGP Hassan Mahmood said, “The probe committee has been asked to carry out the investigation focusing on this specific issue.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of students and teachers of different educational institutions in Kalyanpur and Mirpur and the locals of the areas formed a human chain on Mirpur Road demanding exemplary punishment of the killers and immediate withdrawal of the robbery case filed against Al Amin, the lone survivor of the incident.
The demonstrators also demanded punitive measures against Savar police chief Mahbubur Rahman, arrest of culprits including sand trader Abdul Malek who filed the robbery case against the victims, and compensation to the bereaved families.
Meanwhile, SI Matiur Rahman, investigation officer of the cases filed by Abdul Malek and Savar police, yesterday said they could not yet identify or arrest anyone.
-With The Daily Star input
