The brutal murder had led to widespread protests in Bangladesh after it came to light that Abrar was beaten to death by some student leaders associated with the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) which is affiliated to the ruling Awami League. Police has arrested 19 accused in the case including many office bearers of BCL.
Subsequently, BUET banned all student politics on the campus.
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and some other groups claimed that Abrar was killed for his Facebook post in which he opposed the recently concluded deal between Bangladesh and India to provide 1.8 cusec water of Feni river to Sabroom town in Tripura.
Police however said yesterday that based on confessional statements of the accused, it appears that Abrar was beaten to death on the suspicion of being a member of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. The Shibir is alleged to have links with terrorist group JMB.
Earlier on Monday parents of Abarar met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka who assured speedy justice in the case. She had announced that the guilty will be punished irrespective of their affiliation to any political party including Awami League.
Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A K Abdul Moment on Tuesday criticized the statement made by some foreign diplomats on the issue as going ‘beyond norms’. After the incident, the UN Dhaka office had issued a statement saying that it deplores the killing of a young BUET student, allegedly for freely expressing his view. Missions of the USA, the UK, Germany and Switzerland in Dhaka also made comments condemning the murder and urged transparent investigation.