The peers of Fardin Noor Parash, a BUET student whose body was found in the Shitalakkhya River over a month ago, say that they were initially sceptical of investigators’ claims that he had committed suicide, but were ‘largely satisfied’ after meeting with detectives for three hours.
The students visited the headquarters of the police's Detective Branch in Dhaka’s Minto Road on Thursday to question why police were now calling the incident a ‘suicide’ even though they had initially ruled it a ‘murder’, reports bdnews24.com.
“They showed us the evidence,” Tahmid Hossain, who spoke on behalf of the students, told the media. “We believe this evidence is relevant. They put quite a bit of effort into uncovering it. Perhaps there are a few gaps in some areas. We hope they will make progress in filling those gaps soon. They have given us assurances on the matter.”
Asked whether the students were satisfied with the explanations of the police, he said: “We are satisfied by their cooperation. They have done a lot of work. We are not saying anything final. We will return to BUET, discuss it with everyone and then announce the details.”
After the meeting, Harunor Rashid, chief of the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Branch told the media: “We were able to explain to them that the whole thing was a suicide. They understood.”
At separate media briefings on Wednesday, the DB and the Rapid Action Battalion had said the 24-year-old jumped into the river from Sultana Kamal Bridge in Demra amid anger and frustration over the investigators’ failure to make credible headway in the case.
Harunor Rashid, chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch, said it appeared Fardin took his own life out of frustration from bad results and a lack of money to travel to Spain, where he was supposed to join an international debate competition.
However, Fardin’s father Nur Uddin Rana was unconvinced that his son could have committed suicide.
Though he was not present during the meeting with police detectives, he was present at the DB office Media Centre and told the media, “I do not accept it. This is a pre-meditated murder. I do not accept this.”
Asked why he believed it was not a case of suicide, he said, “The RAB and the DB have not been able to show us video evidence. They have not been able to prove it.”
Asked who could have killed Fardin, he said: “That is for the investigators to uncover.”
BUET students had called a demonstration demanding justice for Fardin on Thursday.
The move prompted DB officials to invite the students to speak to them regarding the details of the investigation.