After he killed a teacher, a teen turned to an unsuspecting friend for help

The Rapid Action Battalion says the teen suspect in the murder of school teacher Utpal Kumar Sarker in Savar sought a friend's help to go into hiding amid a manhunt.

Gazipur Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 30 June 2022, 07:57 AM
Updated : 30 June 2022, 07:57 AM

The student attacked Utpal Kumar Sarker, a lecturer of political science in the institution, with a stump during a cricket match on Jun 25. Utpal succumbed to his injuries at Savar’s Enam Medical College Hospital two days later on Jun 27.

Utpal’s brother Ashim Kumar Sarker subsequently filed a case over the incident.

As the incident began to gain publicity, the tenth-grader of Haji Yunus Ali School and College went to his friend’s place Nagarhawla Village in Gazipur’s Sreepur Upazila.

Multiple teams of law enforcers conducted raids in different parts of the country to arrest the suspect, including in Manikganj and Kushtia.

The suspect’s friend in Nagarhowla Village is a native of Narail. He lives in a rented house in the village with his siblings. He did not complete his education and has been working as a mechanical helper at NRG Spinning Mills Ltd in Sreepur.

Both of them studied at the Haji Yunus Ali School and College and developed a friendship since they were ninth graders.

On Tuesday, the suspect called his friend from his grandparent’s home in Manikganj and said he wanted to stay for a few days in Nagarhawla. He reached the village on Wednesday morning.

The friend arranged for the suspect’s stay in another rented room belonging to local resident Siddikur Rahman as his own place was small.

He also said that his former classmate’s father sent him Tk 1,000 via bKash.

Police arrested the suspect's father, Ujjal Hossain, on Wednesday and received five days to interrogate him in their custody.

When he went to collect the money, he saw RAB personnel showing locals the suspect’s photo and asking questions.

He led the RAB team to where the suspect was staying and they arrested him.

“We don’t know the boy. Some people entered our house before the Maghrib prayer and searched the rooms. At one point they woke the boy up and handcuffed him. Then they took him away in a car after interrogation,” said house owner Siddikur Rahman.

The suspect’s friend said he was unaware that his friend committed such a crime.

The murdered teacher, Utpal, was also the chairman of the institution's disciplinary committee.

He lived with his family in Dhaka's Mirpur. Utpal graduated from Chattogram University and also did his master's there.

SI Emdaul said the student, carried out the sudden attack at the college ground on Saturday afternoon, critically injuring the teacher.

"He [Utpal] had to discipline the students many times. Maybe the student was angry at him for something like that. We’re trying to arrest him."

Principal Saiful Hasan said the student started beating Utpal with a cricket stump when the teacher was watching a match.

Utpal's brother Asim Kumar Sarker demanded justice for the slain teacher. Citing students, Asim said Utpal had disciplined the attacker for sexually harassing female students.