Two ex-SUST students held in Dhaka for sending money to protesters

A team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday arrested two former students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) on charge of sending money to the protesting students at the university.

Ashraf Ullah Taher, deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP), said a CID team arrested two former students — Reza Nur Moin and Habibur Rahman — from the capital’s Uttara area early Tuesday for sending money to the SUST students now on hunger strike demanding their VC’s removal.

They are now being taken to Sylhet for further investigation, he said.

The students embarked on fast-unto-death on the university campus on January 19, demanding the resignation of SUST Vice-Chancellor Farid Uddin Ahmed over police crackdown on its students.

The students vowed to continue with their hunger strike till the VC quits, reports UNB.

The hunger strike was launched on January 19 by 24 students and later one of them had to leave due to family obligations. On January 22, three more students joined their fellows in the hunger strike.

The strike was launched after police swooped on the protesting students, charging batons and firing sound grenades and shotgun bullets.

The alleged attack was carried out to free the VC from confinement in the university’s IICT building, and it had left 40 people hurt, including teachers, students and cops.

Zafrin Ahmed, a provost of Begum Sirajunnesa Chowdhury Hall, a dorm for females, was at the centre of the initial unrest as she allegedly misbehaved with some students on January 13 when they met her with some complaints.

She later resigned from her post, citing health issues.

Provost Zafrin Ahmed’s removal was one of the initial demands of the students protesting on the campus. But it has now spread to the general students as well.