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Police claim to have "unravelled the mystery" behind the murder of Shahriar Alam Shammo, a leader of the BNP's student affiliate Chhatra Dal at Dhaka University, following the arrest of eight people in connection with the case.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) announced that Commissioner Sheikh Md Sazzat Ali will provide further details at a media briefing later on Tuesday.
On Sunday, the DMP’s Detective Branch (DB) arrested five suspects in the case. On Monday, a court granted police permission to interrogate three of them -- Sohag, Hridoy Islam, and Robin -- in custody.
Another suspect, Sujon Sarkar, was sent to jail by the court. Meanwhile Md Ripon, who also had been arrested, gave a confessional statement in court and was put behind bars.
By Monday, the eight suspects arrested by the DB had been presented before the court in the case.
Earlier, on May 13, officers from Shahbagh Police Station arrested Tamim Hawlader, Palash Sardar, and Samrat Mallik as suspects in the murder.
When asked whether the arrests made by the DB were in addition to the earlier ones, Deputy Commissioner Talebur Rahman of the DMP’s Media and Public Relations Division said that a total of 11 suspects have now been arrested in the case.
“Three were arrested initially, and another eight by the Detective Branch, bringing the total number of arrests to 11. More details will be shared at the [commissioner's] press conference.”
Shammo was fatally stabbed at Suhrawardy Udyan on May 13. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital around midnight, where doctors declared him dead.
A student of the 2018–19 academic session at Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research (IER), Shammo was the literature and publications secretary of Chhatra Dal’s AF Rahman Hall unit.
Following the murder, Shammo's elder brother Shariful Islam filed a case against 10 to 12 unidentified suspects at Shahbagh Police Station.
The incident has sparked protests by Chhatra Dal’s DU unit, demanding justice and the resignation of the university’s vice-chancellor and proctor.
On Monday, the university’s probe committee submitted its report to Vice-Chancellor Niaz Ahmed Khan. The next day, police claimed to have solved the case.