IO finds links of 4 teachers, 15 students

An Investigation Officer (IO) yesterday testified in court that he had found involvement of four teachers and 15 students of Dhaka University (DU) in violating Emergency Power Rules (EPR) on the DU campus in August last year.
Sub-Inspector (SI) Sirajul Islam of Shahbagh Police Station, IO of the case, in his testimony said that he has already pressed charges against the same.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Golam Rabbani, holding the hearing, recorded the witness's statement and set today as the date for the next hearing of the case. Lawyers defending the teachers and student now in jail custody will cross-examine the witness today.
In his statement Sirajul said that he has visited the place of occurrence (PO), made its sketch map and seized pieces of evidences from the PO.
Sirajul was put in charge of the investigation on August 23 last year after the case was filed against DU teachers and students.
Since then two more teachers and several students have been arrested, Sirajul added in his statement. He informed the court that he has taken recorded statements from two witnesses under section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). These two students have already given their statements to the court, the witness added.
The four teachers and one student, who are in jail custody now, were produced before the court yesterday. The magistrate, in breaking with usual procedure, allowed them to sit down during the hearing.
The accused teachers are Dhaka University Teachers' Association President Prof Sadrul Amin, General Secretary Prof Anwar Hossain, Science Faculty Dean Prof Harun-ar-Rashid, and Applied Physics Department Chairman Prof Neem Chandra Bhowmik.
The case was filed against 5,000 to 6,000 unnamed students and teachers of Dhaka University and outsiders on August 22 for violating the EPR, vandalising public and private property, obstructing police from performing their duty and assaulting law enforcers on the university campus and its adjoining areas.
The police pressed charges against only four teachers and 15 students on September 9 for instigating violence on the campus and in Shahbagh area on August 21 and 22.