Police on Saturday night arrested Professor Md Hasibur Rashid, the former Vice-Chancellor of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR), from the capital’s Mohammadpur area in connection with the murder of student Abu Sayed .
Rashid, a fugitive convict sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for crimes against humanity, was apprehended from a residence on Salimullah Road at approximately 8pm.
Mohammadpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Mezbah Uddin confirmed the arrest, identifying Rashid also known as Bachchu as the primary accused in the case. He had been in hiding since the July mass uprising.
On 9 April of this year, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 delivered its verdict in the case, sentencing 25 out of 30 accused individuals to various prison terms. Professor Rashid was among those convicted, receiving a 10-year sentence.
Although an arrest warrant had been issued against him as early as 30 June last year, he remained at large throughout the subsequent political unrest.
The case pertains to the death of Abu Sayed, a student of Begum Rokeya University who was killed by police gunfire on 16 July 2024 during the July uprising. At the time of the killing, Professor Rashid was serving as the Vice-Chancellor of the university, a post he was appointed to in June 2021.
Prior to his leadership role at BRUR, Professor Rashid was a faculty member of the Management Information Systems department at the University of Dhaka.
