An investigation by fact-checking organisation The Dissent has debunked a claim circulated by former education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and other pro Awami League groups that no police were present near the scene when July Uprising martyr Mir Mahfuzur Rahman Mugdha was shot dead in Uttara’s Azampur on July 18, 2024.

In an investigative report published on Wednesday, The Dissent said it analysed video footage, CCTV recordings, eyewitness accounts and the locations of buildings and roads visible in the footage to reconstruct Mugdha’s final moments.

The investigation found that police were firing at protesters in the area at the same time Mugdha was shot, according to The Dissent.

Nowfel, in a video circulated online, claimed that he visited Mugdha’s home the day after his death and that one of Mugdha’s friends told him there were no police or activists of the Awami League, Jubo League or Chhatra League nearby when Mugdha was shot.

According to Nowfel, Mugdha had been distributing water after the protest had ended when a “sniper shot” suddenly hit him in the head.

The Dissent said its investigation found evidence contradicting that account.

It cited CCTV footage published by RTV showing Mugdha being shot and collapsing at around 5:50pm. The investigation also examined footage showing police firing at protesters from the direction of Azampur intersection towards Rabindra Sarani at around the same time.

“According to Google Maps, the distance between the location from which police were firing at Azampur intersection and the place where Mugdha was shot was approximately 115 metres,” The Dissent reported.

The report said a video published by the July Revolutionary Alliance showed a group of police officers moving towards Azampur intersection from the direction of Uttara East Police Station.

According to the investigation, three officers moved ahead of the group. One officer was seen firing three rounds towards BNS before turning towards Rabindra Sarani and firing three more rounds, where Mugdha and other protesters were present.

The Dissent said the footage was received by July Revolutionary Alliance convener Saleh Mahmud Raihan from another protester. A screenshot supplied to the fact-checking outlet showed the time as 5:50pm.

The report also quoted Zubayer Ahmed, who is researching weapons used by police during the July uprising, as identifying the weapon visible in the footage as a Chinese-made Type 56 assault rifle using 7.62×39mm ammunition.

The Dissent also referred to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) fact-finding report on the July-August 2024 protests.

According to The Dissent, the OHCHR report said eyewitness accounts and photographs confirmed that police fired from the roof of Uttara East Police Station and that medical and ballistic information analysed by OHCHR indicated that people were killed by lethal ammunition fired by police and the Rapid Action Battalion.

The investigation also examined Nowfel’s claim that Mugdha may have been targeted because of a Facebook post he made against Jamaat-Shibir and Chhatra Dal shortly before his death.

Mugdha’s friend Naimur Rahman Ashik, whom Nowfel identified as the friend he had spoken to, rejected the claim, according to The Dissent.

Ashik said that Nowfel’s account of their conversation was “completely false” and said he had never told the former minister that there were no police at the scene.

He said he had written on Facebook on July 25, 2024, about the July 18 incident and had clearly mentioned seeing armed police when Mugdha was shot.

Ashik also said Mugdha’s Facebook post was not directed against Jamaat-Shibir or Chhatra Dal but was intended to oppose attempts to turn the student movement into a political party-led movement.

The Dissent said it found several similar posts by other protesters calling for political parties not to use the movement for political purposes.

Another protester, Jisan Islam Sakib, who told The Dissent that he was around five to six feet from Mugdha when he was shot, also described police firing in the area.

Sakib said police had been firing rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters for hours before the fatal shooting. He told The Dissent that he saw three police officers take position under a flyover and fire towards protesters.

“The first shot hit Mugdha’s head,” he was quoted as saying.

According to The Dissent, Sakib and other protesters subsequently carried Mugdha to a rickshaw and took him to Crescent Hospital, where doctors declared that he could not be saved.