Prime accused still at large

More than one month has passed since Nasim Ahmed Sohel, an MBA student of Premier University Chittagong, was stabbed to death on the university campus, but no visible headway has been made in the investigation and the arrest of the prime accused, Md Ibrahim Sohan, alleged the victim's family.

Sohan is also an MBA student of the university.

Abu Taher, father of Sohel, said, "The CCTV footage clearly shows who stabbed Sohel to death on that day and the murderers can clearly be identified in the video. But police are yet to arrest them.

"It seems to us that police are either indifferent to arresting the accused or they have pressure from some influential quarter for not arresting the killers," he added.

Since the murder, the family has been demanding that the case be transferred to the detective branch (DB) or criminal investigation department (CID) of police or the Rapid Action Battalion.

 On May 10, when contacted, Taher reiterated the same demand.

"I heard that the prime accused is seen in different areas of the city, but police say they are not finding any trace of him," he said.

"I urge the prime minister to direct the law enforcement agencies to arrest the killers so that we can at least have a little consolation," added the bereaved father.

On March 29, Sohel was stabbed to death allegedly by his rival faction of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists over a feud centring on holding a farewell and freshers' reception ceremony of the university, according to the police and university students.

Taher lodged a case with Chawkbazar police, mentioning the names of 13 people including Sohan and some 20 to 25 unidentified people.

Following the case, police arrested five accused -- Ashraful Islam, Wahidduzzaman Nishan, Ziual Haider Chowdhury, SM Golam Mostafa, and Tamim-ul-Alam -- all students of the same university.

The five were taken on a three-day remand, but none of them gave any confessional statement before the court concerned, said Chawkbazar police, adding that they were now in prison.

Contacted, Rezaul Alam Rony, an ex-student of the university and vice president of BCL's Chittagong city unit, too demanded that the case be transferred to DB or CID.

"We do not believe that police cannot trace Sohan. They can arrest any criminal if they want," said Rony.

Humayun Kabir, sub-inspector of the police station and the case's investigation officer, said they were conducting drives in different areas of the country to arrest the rest of the accused including Sohan.

"They (criminals) are on the run and constantly changing their position. We therefore could not arrest them," added the SI.

Denying the family's allegation of pressure on them from influential quarters, Humayun said, "We will hopefully be able to arrest the other accused soon."