3 held over Khulna student killing

Khulna, Sept 22: Three people have been arrested over the killing of university student Ayman Md Azmul Hossain in Khulna, with two of the suspects admitting to beating him, officials said on Tuesday.

The arrests were made separately by the Special Response Battalion (SRB) and the Detective Branch (DB) of Khulna Metropolitan Police.

SRB arrested Hasnat Habib Rifat, 30, a cash officer at Bangladesh Krishi Bank’s Town Nowapara branch in Fakirhat, and Tarek alias Rubel, 35, owner of Ma Babader Doa Tanha Juice Corner near Khwaja Hall of Khulna University.

SRB-6 Commander Nistar Ahmed said Rifat was arrested around 2:30am in the Kuriana-Adabari area of Pirojpur following a tip-off. A joint team of SRB-6 in Khulna and SRB-8 in Barishal carried out the arrest.

Rifat, a former Khulna University student, allegedly told investigators that he was present at the scene and struck Azmul twice with a stick. He is an accused in the murder case filed with Harintana Police Station.

Based on information provided by Rifat, SRB later arrested Tarek in Khulna around noon. Tarek allegedly told investigators that he kicked and punched Azmul several times after hearing people shouting “thief, thief”. He was later handed over to Harintana Police Station.

Azmul was allegedly beaten on the roof of a four-storey building on Islamnagar Road near Khulna University’s hall road late on Friday night.

His family alleged that he was beaten to death after being accused of stealing cooked rice. However, an investigation source said no evidence had so far been found to support the claim that he was tortured over the alleged theft of cooked rice. The source said there were allegations that Azmul had stolen money and a mobile phone.

Azmul’s father, Kutubuddin, filed a murder case with Harintana Police Station on Saturday night, naming four Khulna University students and 20 to 25 unidentified people.