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Published : 13 Apr 2025, 06:30 PM
Students from Dhaka University’s Arabic Department have alleged that the man who set fire to the Ananda Shobhajatra motifs at the Faculty of Fine Arts, also known as Charukola, is an activist of the Awami League's banned student affiliate Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). They identified the suspect as Rabiul Islam Rakib, a student from their department.
They made the claim after a video of the incident spread on social media on Sunday.
The suspected arsonist, Rabiul, enrolled at Dhaka University in the 2021–22 academic session. He lived in the university’s Master Da Surja Sen Hall before the Awami League government was toppled by a mass uprising in August last year.
The arson occurred early on Saturday morning, when the "face of fascism” and "dove of peace" motifs, created for the Pohela Boishakh parade, were set on fire at the Faculty of Fine Arts compound.
Israfil Ratan, an associate professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, said that CCTV footage showed a young man, who had his face covered by a mask, climbing a wall and entering the Faculty of Fine Arts grounds, setting the fire, and then leaving the same way he entered -- all in the span of a minute and a half.
Sharif Ahmed, a student of the Arabic Department, said that classmates could easily recognise him from the video.
“A few days ago, he came in front of the [Bijoy] Ekattor Hall chanting slogans in favour of the Chhatra League and made posts about it [on social media]."
He urged the authorities to take immediate action against Rabiul.
Repeated attempts to contact Rabiul for comment were unsuccessful.
Addressing the allegations, Dhaka University Proctor Saifuddin Ahmed said that they were taking the matter seriously, and have launched an investigation.
