Oprotim murder: CoU students hold fresh protest, call police briefing ‘farce’

Students of Comilla University (CoU) held a human chain on Monday, describing Sunday’s police press briefing on the murder of the 13-year-old son of a Comilla University teacher as a “farce” and demanding implementation of their four-point demands to ensure justice.

Protesting the police briefing, the students said they were dissatisfied with the information provided about the murder of seventh grader Ishayat Shahriar Oprotim.

They demanded that those involved in the killing be identified and arrested quickly and given exemplary punishment.

Their four demands include ensuring punishment for everyone involved in the murder; withdrawing the Cumilla SP and the officers-in-charge (OCs) of Adarsha Sadar and Sadar Dakshin police stations over administrative failures; establishing a permanent police outpost in the Comilla University area and making visible improvements to law and order; and forming an immediate response unit to ensure the swift rescue of missing persons.

Naim Bhuiyan, a student of the Pharmacy Department from the 2020-21 academic year, said, “We have received no comment from the administration regarding our four-point demands. Although news was published yesterday evening that a person named Anas had been detained, the superintendent of police denied this. Moreover, many aspects of the incident have become unclear. We are calling for the implementation of our demands.”

Nazmul, a student of the Bangla Department from the same academic year, raised questions about the detention of a person named Anas and the age of another suspect, Siyam.

“Yesterday, after Tuhin was arrested, he mentioned Anas’s name. Later, we learned that Anas had been detained from Beltali. But at the press briefing, the police said no one named Anas had been detained. If he was released, there has also been no explanation as to why he was released,” he said.

“Similarly, there are questions about Siyam’s age. His age has been shown as 15, although he is in Class XII. His Facebook profile lists his date of birth as 17 October 2006. According to that, he should be 20 years old,” Nazmul added.

Earlier on Sunday, Cumilla district police claimed to have uncovered the circumstances surrounding the killing of Oprotim, with four people arrested in connection with the case.

The initial investigation suggests that Oprotim may have been killed over his iPhone, police said, adding that an intensive investigation is underway to determine whether there was any other motive behind the killing.

Cumilla Police Superintendent Md Anisuzzaman disclosed the information at a press conference on Sunday.

The arrested are Saiful Islam Tuhin, 19, Mojammel Hossain Fahad, 16, Kamrul Hasan, 15, and Md Siyam, 19.

On Sunday night, police said the three people (Tuhin, Fahad, Kamrul) gave confessional statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before Senior Judicial Magistrate Abida Sultana Molly. 

Oprotim’s body was recovered from a hillock behind Magic Paradise Park on Saturday, around 22 hours after he went missing.

He had left home around 3:30pm on Friday, telling his mother that he was going to Shalban Vihara with friends to take photographs. He was carrying his mother’s iPhone at the time, Nahida said in a Facebook post on Friday.