‘They tried to be heroes, they became zeroes’: Parvez murder suspects remanded for 7 days

The state argues that the three arrestees are outsiders brought in for the murder of the Primeasia University student

The court has commented that the arrested suspects in the murder case of Primeasia University student Zahidul Islam Parvez became involved in the incident out of a misguided desire to display their “heroism”.

During the remand hearing in the case on Monday, Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sanaullah said, “They tried to be heroes, they became zeroes. There is no harm to them (the accused); the harm is to their parents.”

Earlier in the day, case investigation officer and Banani Police Station chief AKM Moin Uddin took the three 19-year-old accused - Al Kamal Sheikh, Alvi Hossain Junaid and Al Amin Sunny to the court and petitioned for them to be remanded for 10 days.

Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Omar Faruq Faruqi represented the state at the remand hearing.

During the hearing, he said, “The murder was committed over a trivial incident. They (the accused) were hired for the murder. They brought in external students to attack the educational institution. This is a heinous incident. We cannot accept this.”

“To see him stabbed to death like this! These are also some peoples’ children. See what condition the boys in the dock are in. If they are taken on remand and interrogated, the masterminds of the incident will be discovered.”

Suspect Kamal’s lawyer Lutfor Rahman said, “He is a student of Government Bangla College. He does not live in the Banani area, nor does he commute there - he is an employee of a shop. He was working there at the time of the incident. Someone at the scene called him. He is not involved in the incident. He has been arrested because of that call.”

Alvi and Sunny’s lawyer Mahbubur Rahman said, “We also express our regret over this incident. Those involved should be tried. Those not involved should get justice.”

At this time, the judge said: “You responded to a phone call. That means you are an outsider. Why did you go there?”

At this time, the lawyer said, “They did not go to the scene of the incident. It was far away. They were applying for admission to that university. That is why they went to make inquiries.”

At this time, the judge said, “Is there any document that shows they were trying to get admitted?”

Then the lawyer said, “There is nothing like that now.”

The court eventually ordered them to be remanded for seven days.

The three suspects were arrested during a raid in the Wireless Gate area of Dhaka’s Mohakhali around midnight on Sunday, according to Rasel Sarwar, chief of Banani Police Station.

On Saturday afternoon, Zahidul Islam Parvez, a student of the 223rd batch of the Textile Engineering Department, was stabbed to death in a “knife attack” following a dispute between some students on the campus of the private Primeasia University in Banani.

Students of the Textile Department alleged that Parvez was stabbed to death by outsiders over a small incident while chatting at a tea shop near the university.

The case filed by the deceased's cousin Humayun Kabir over Parvez’s murder names eight suspects, including two leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. In addition, 25-30 other people have been accused as unnamed suspects.

The accused in the case are Mehraj Islam, 20, Abu Zar Gifari Pias, 20, Mahathir Hasan, 20, Sobhan Niaz Tushar, 24, Hridoy Miyazi, 23, Rifat, 21, Ali, 21 and Fahim, 22.

Of them, Tushar has been identified in the complaint as the joint convener of the Banani Thana Anti-Discrimination Student Movement unit. Hridoy Miyazi has been identified as the joint member secretary of the same unit.

At a press conference on Sunday, the Chhatra Dal alleged that some leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement from Banani were involved in the murder, claiming Parvez as one of its activists.

However, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement denied the allegations of the Chhatra Dal on its Facebook page, stating that the Chhatra Dal was lying and that their leaders were not involved in the incident.