Published : 21 Oct 2025, 09:47 PM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 02:37 PM
Claiming to have “unravelled the mystery” behind the killing of Jagannath University Chhatra Dal leader Md Jobayed Hossain, police said the incident stemmed not from politics, but due to a “love triangle”.
According to investigators, 19-year-old Barjis Shabnam Borsha developed a relationship with her tutor, Jobayed, while she was already involved in a romantic relationship with another young man, Mahir Rahman, also 19.
At one point, police said, Borsha and Mahir conspired to “remove” Jobayed from their lives.
Borsha herself “planned the murder,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) SN Md Nazrul Islam told reporters at the DMP Media Center on Tuesday afternoon.
He said the killing was “roughly similar” to the 2019 murder of Rifat Sharif in Barguna.
In that case, a video showing two men attacking Rifat with machetes in broad daylight went viral, while his wife, Ayesha Siddique Minni, was seen trying to stop the assault.
Investigators later found that Minni herself had taken part in planning the murder, which they said was linked to a rivalry over drugs and a love affair.
A court later sentenced six people, including Minni, to death.
Police in Dhaka said they have arrested three people in connection with Jobayed’s killing -- his student Borsha, her boyfriend Mahir, and Mahir’s friend, Fardin Ahmed Aylan, 20.
Describing the events that led to the killing, Additional Commissioner Nazrul said Mahir and Borsha were former neighbours and had been in a romantic relationship for about a year and a half.
Jobayed, a student in the Department of Statistics at Jagannath University, had been tutoring Borsha for about a year when the two also became romantically involved.
About a month ago, police said, Mahir discovered Borsha’s relationship with Jobayed and became enraged.
The couple quarrelled, and according to investigators, Borsha told Mahir that “if you do not remove Jobayed, I will not be able to stay with you.”
Police said the two then planned to kill Jobayed.
Borsha allegedly informed Mahir of the tutor’s arrival and departure times from her house, while Mahir enlisted his friend Aylan to help.
The two purchased a switchblade knife from Keraniganj for Tk 500.
Around 4:30pm on the day of the attack, Mahir and Aylan confronted Jobayed outside Borsha’s house and questioned him about his relationship with her.
During the argument, Mahir took out the knife and stabbed Jobayed in the right side of his neck, killing him, police said.
Officers detained Borsha on the night of the incident and arrested Mahir and Aylan the next day.
Mallik Ahsan Uddin Sami, deputy commissioner of the DMP’s Lalbagh Division, said Borsha watched the attack from the third floor of her home.
After being stabbed, Jobayed ran upstairs and pleaded for help, yelling to Borsha: “Save me”.
“In response, Borsha said, ‘If you don’t go, I won’t be Mahir’s,’” the police official said.
“That’s why she didn’t help, and Jobayed collapsed shortly afterward.”
Additional Commissioner Nazrul said Borsha appeared to have been “maintaining relationships on both sides” and was “perhaps unable to decide”.
He added that Mahir “may have pressured her” after discovering her relationship with Jobayed.
The two, he said, began planning the killing on Sept 26.
“There is no political issue here,” Nazrul said.
“It is clearly a love triangle story. It cannot be given a political interpretation. We did not find anything like that.”
Jobayed was enrolled in the 2019–20 academic year and served on the university’s Chhatra Dal convening committee and was president of the Cumilla District Chhatra Kalyan Sangsad.
After he was attacked on Sunday, blood was found from the ground floor to the third floor of the building’s staircase.
Jobayed’s body was found face down on the steps of the third floor.
As word of his death spread, classmates, current and former students of Jagannath University, and leaders and activists of the Chhatra Dal gathered at the scene, protesting and demanding justice.
Police questioned Borsha and her family members for about five hours that night before taking her into custody around 11pm.
