IU teacher stabbed to death

Staff Reporter :

The head of the social welfare department was stabbed to death in her office while a support staff member was found slitting his throat in the Islamic University (IU) in Kushtia this afternoon (4 March).

Ansar members and several students found assistant professor Asma Sadia Runa with her throat slit and stab wounds on her arms and legs around 4pm.

The university’s proctorial body and police took Runa and Fazlur Rahman to Kushtia Sadar Hospital, where doctors pronounced Runa dead on arrival and admitted the latter for treatment.

Two Ansar members, who were on-duty at the entrance of the five-storey building, said the faculty usually becomes empty after 3pm, but today there were some students and teachers because of an iftar party of the social welfare department.

They added that they heard screams for help coming from the second floor around 4pm and went to check what was going on, along with several students.

“We kept knocking on the door, but as no one was opening it, we, along with a few students, broke it open. When we entered the room, we saw the teacher lying in a pool of blood.

“The staff member was lying on the floor, slitting his throat with a knife, with blood gushing out,” said Asmat Ali, one of the Ansar men.

“One of us then called the proctor’s office and the Islamic University Police Station,” he added.

Officials from the proctor’s office and police arrived at the scene and took both of them to the hospital.

Runa had died by the time she was taken to the hospital, most likely because of excessive bleeding, said Imam Hossain, a resident medical officer at the facility.

Surgeons were operating on the throat of Fazlur at the time of filing this report.

Officials of the university said Fazlur Rahman used to be a support staff member of the social welfare department before he was transferred to the political science department a month ago, following a heated argument with Runa over a pay raise.

Professor Shahinuzzaman, proctor of the university, said, “We arrived at the scene upon receiving the news. We rescued both individuals and sent them to the Sadar Hospital.”

Several students requesting anonymity told this reporter that they believe the incident may have been an expression of resentment stemming from that dispute.

Masud Rana, officer-in-charge of the IU Police Station, said police had begun an investigation into the matter.