NSU suspends pro-VC arrested for ‘sheltering Gulshan cafe killers’

Dhaka’s North South University has suspended the acting pro-vice chancellor following his arrest on charges of sheltering militants before the terror attack on a Gulshan cafe.

Vice-chancellor of the private university, Prof Atiqul Islam, announced the decision on Monday.    

“The honourable vice chancellor said he is suspended due to his arrest under Section 54,” Belal Ahmed, a university spokesperson, told bdnews24.com. 

Acting pro-VC Professor M Gias Uddin Ahsan, his nephew Alam Chowdhury, and Mahbubur Rahman Tuhin, the manager of a house in Bashundhara Residential Area, were arrested on Saturday.

The four were remanded for eight days in police custody on Sunday.   

Police said five militants who carried out the attack on Gulshan cafe on July 1 had taken shelter in the flat No. A/6 owned by Ahsan.

The other associates of the attackers fled the flat after the siege. Several cartons loaded with sand and the clothings they left behind were seized from the flat. 

Police suspect the cartons were used to keep the grenades used in the attack.

Nibras Islam, a former student of the North South University, was among the five gunmen who killed 20 hostages during the overnight siege of the upscale restaurant at the heart of Dhaka’s diplomatic area. 

Police have also detained as suspect a former teacher of the university who was among the hostages that survived the attack.    

Barely a week after the Gulshan attack, a police check post at Kishoreganj’s Sholakia came under attack on Eid day. 

Two police constables died after being hacked and bombed by attackers. One of them was North South University student Abir Rahman, who was killed in the shootout with security forces. 

VC Atiqul had vowed to take out the cancer of militancy at a meeting organised by the government over private university students turning to radicalism.   

The decision to temporarily remove Gias Uddin came a day after he made the announcement.