One killed as BCL groups trade fire at SUST

A deadly gunfight between rival factions Bangladesh Chhatra League left one of their activists killed and 20 others, including the university proctor, injured on the campus of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet on Thursday.

The authorities have closed the university for an indefinite period after the nearly two-hour clashes over establishing supremacy on the campus between the factions of the ruling Awami League-backed student organisation.
Suman Chandra Das, 23, a business administration student of a private university, died after being admitted to Osmani Medical College Hospital, said on-duty doctor Omar Faruq.
SOMCH assistant director Abdus Salam said the condition of another bullet-hit patient, whom he identified as Khalilur Rahman, was critical.
The injured, most of them hit by bullets were taken to SOMCH. Of them eight were admi8tted to the hospital.
A rubber bullet fired by the police during the fighting hit SUST proctor Himadri Sekhar Roy in the leg. He took treatment at the university medical centre.
The two groups – one led by BCL university unit president Sanjiban Chakrabarti Partha, and the other by vice-president Anjan Roy – traded gunshots and hurled crude bombs during the fighting. The police fired rubber bullets and blank shots to break up the feuding groups.
Sanjiban has been forced to stay out of the campus for last few months by the rival group.
SUST syndicate at an emergency meeting in the afternoon decided to close the university for an indefinite period.
The police gave the identity of the deceased as Suman Chandra Das, 24, son of Hiradhan Chndra Das of Samarchar village under Derai upazila in Sunamganj. Suman was a fourth year student of business administration department of private Sylhet International University, BCL sources said.
Witnesses said that some 35 armed BCL activists led by Sanjiban, who was driven out of the campus by the Anjan-led group after he was made the unit president on May 8 last year, stormed the campus around 10:00am and vandalised the central library and academic building-D before attacking Syed Muztaba Ali Hall, Shah Paran hall and Bangabandhu Hall.
They exploded some 40 crude bombs while forcing their way into the halls. They also vandalised furniture and valuables in different rooms in the halls and locked the rooms in which their rivals lived, after forcing the inmates out, the campus sources said.
At one point, their rivals led by Anjan Roy and Uttam Kumar Das launched a counter attack triggering the clashes that continued until the police intervened.
Both sides used crude bombs, sharp weapons and guns during the fighting, the witnesses said.
The police appeared on the spot at about11:45am and quelled the situation around midday.
Sylhet Metropolitan Police additional deputy commissioner Rahmat Ullah told New Age that the police had fired some 40 rounds of rubber bullet and blank shot to disperse the feuding groups.
‘Reinforcements have been dispatched to avert further trouble on the campus,’ he said.
Suman Chandra, SUST BCL vice-president and master’s student of economics department, Anjan Roy, Khalilur Rahman, Kamrul Islam, Abdus Salam Manju and Sagar, were among those who were admitted to the hospital with bullet wounds, the hospital sources said.
Jalalabad police officer-in-charge Akhtar Hossain told New Age that the body of Suman was sent to the SOMCH morgue for postmortem examination.
When contacted, university registrar Ishfaqul Islam told New Age that the syndicate had ordered male students to vacate the halls by 4:00pm Thursday and female students by 9:00am Friday.
“The admission process for the first year honour’s courses, however, would continue,’ the registrar said.
A three-member committee headed by the SUST’s former treasurer Elias Uddin Biswas was formed to investigate the bloody incident, the university syndicate member Faruk Uddin told New Age.
He said that the two other members of the committee are SUST Teachers’ Association president Mohammad Yunus and business administration professor Nazrul Islam.
Activists of BCL kept six police men confined in a room of  Bangabandhu Hall during the clashes, witnesses said.
‘One of the captives informed us about the matter over mobile phone and we rescued them after dispersing the feuding groups,’ Jalalabad police investigation officer Suhel Ahmad said.