Police arrested a madrasa student and three others on charges of attacking and vandalising the Dhaka University vice chancellor’s residence about three weeks ago, during the agitations for reforms the quota system.
The suspects were identified as Md Masud Alam alias Masud, 25, Md Rakibul Hasan alias Rakib, 26, Md Ali Hossain Sheikh alias Ali, 28, and Abu Sayeed Fazle Rabbi alias Siyam, 20.
Additional Police Commissioner of Detective Branch Devdas Bhattacharya said they were arrested at different areas of Dhaka on Sunday, according to a bdnews24 report.
But no one of them is a student of the Dhaka University, police officials said. Of the arrestees, Masud is a student at an Alia madrasa while other three are do not study now.
Two mobile handsets, looted from the VC’s house on that night, were found on two of the arrestees, police said.
On Apr 9, the VC’s residence was ransacked at dead of night during the movement for reforming the quota system in civil service jobs. Earlier in that day, the agitation protest turned violent when police teargassed and clubbed the protesters.
Some masked miscreants with sticks stormed the vice-chancellor’s house and vandalised rooms and furniture.
The following day, the university’s Senior Security Officer SM Kamrul Hasan started the case at the Shahbagh Police Station accusing unidentified people. Police themselves also initiated several more cases related to the incident.
The case accusing unidentified people left quota protesters worried.
The Council for the Preservation of Bangladesh General Students’ Rights’ Convener Hasan Al Mamun said they were pleased with the arrests.
He told the bdnews24.com, “Those who have waged the protest on the Dhaka University campus are students of the university. Those arrested are not the DU students.”
“They are outsiders, indicating that Dhaka University students did not take part in the attack on the VC’s residence.”
