17 held over SUST clash

Sylhet Correspondent :Police on Friday detained 17 youths from different houses adjacent to Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in connection with Thursday’s clash that left one student dead and several others injured.During the raid in the morning, the law enforcers also recovered 19 machetes, four bullets and a revolver.Of the detainees, Kotwali police held 12 while Jalalabad police five, police sources said. All the detainees are involved in Chhatra League politics, they added.Five of them were identified as Sreekanta Das, Joyonto Das, Emdadul Haque,  Belal Ahmed and Naim Ahmed.A case has been filed by the police against 250 unidentified people over the clash. SUST authorities and the victim’s family are also preparing to file separate cases, said Akhter Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of Jalalabad Police Station.Meanwhile, President of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) HM Bodiuzzaman Shohag has ruled out involvement of his organisation in the SUST clash.”There were no clashes between BCL factions of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. Outsiders clashed on the campus. Some media are heinously trying to blame BCL for it,” he told a press briefing yesterday at the Dhaka University.Suman Das, student of a private university in Sylhet, was shot during Thursday’s clash. He later died at the hospital. “Suman was never involved with BCL. He was not a student of Shahjalal University. Why did he go to the campus that day?” the BCL chief asked.He blamed expelled BCL activist Uttam Kumar for Thursday’s clash. “Uttam was ousted over the 2013 incident of hacking Chhatra League’s former convener Shamsuzzaman Chowdhury. A case had been filed over the assault. But neither the police nor the university authorities took any steps against him.”  BCL will not take any responsibility for any misdeed of Uttam Kumar, added Shohag. “We will take measures against those BCL activists involved in the clash.”Following the clash, SUST authorities closed the university for sine die and instructed students to vacate dormitories.However, the university’s admission process will continue, said SUST Admission Committee’s Member Secretary Md Faruk Uddin. Admission test for the university is scheduled for Nov 25.