Rampage at CU Campus: CU to withdraw cases against BCL men

Fearing backlash by BCL activists, the Chittagong University administration has appealed to the court to withdraw the two cases filed against the 14 BCL men over last year's vandalism of transport depot and the VC's residence.

Before leaving her chair, CU's outgoing VC Professor Shireen Akhter verbally ordered CU Proctor Nurul Azim Shikdar to withdraw the cases, reports our Chattogram staff correspondent citing several university sources.

CU acting registrar Prof Nur Ahmed and acting security chief Abdur Razzak filed the cases with Hathazari Police Station, said police sources.

On the instruction of the outgoing VC, the plaintiffs have applied to the court to withdraw their respective cases, the sources said.

This correspondent phoned CU former VC Shireen Akhter and Security officer Abdur Razzak to learn their versions, but the duo did not answer the phone calls.

Court sources said the hearing of withdrawal cases was scheduled to be held on Thursday but it was not held. It will be held on the next date. The cases are being investigated by Hathazari Police Station.

The accused are Md Sazzad Hossen, 26, of 2015-2016 session Philosophy department, Md Imran Nazir Emon, 23, of statistics, Anisur Rahman, 25, of Persian language and literature, Nasir Uddin Md Sifat Ullah, 22, of history, Anik Das, 25, of Sanskrit, Anirudh Biswas, 21, of Bangla, Md Azimuzzaman, 21, of Bangla, Md Shakil Hossen Aimun, of banking and insurance, Dipan Bonik Dipta, of Sanskrit, Md Riad Hasan Rabbi, of education and research, Nur Ahmed Manna, 21, of English, Sowrav Bhuiyan of history, Aminul Islam, 25, of Pali, and Shafiqul Islam, 26, of physics department.

All the accused belong to different BCL fractions, said campus sources.

CU's Law officer Sayed Fazlul Karim told The Daily Star, "The plaintiffs have appealed to the court to withdraw the cases as per madam's [ex-CU VC's] verbal direction. So far we didn't appoint any lawyer from the university in the case."

However, CU's newly appointed VC Professor Abu Taher told The Daily Star, "I am not aware about the matter. It's a legal issue. I will ask the officers about the update of the cases."

"Law is same for everyone. If they want to withdraw the cases, why were they lodged in the first place?" he asked.