‘If we had killed him, we would have fled’, say Shammo murder suspects

The three suspects arrested over the killing of Dhaka University Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader Shahriar Alam Shammo have claimed to be innocent, denying the murder charges during the remand hearing.

In a hearing at the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shahin Reza on Saturday, the accused said they would have “tried to flee” if they had been guilty.

Shammo was seriously injured in a knife attack at Suhrawardy Udyan on the night of May 13. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the doctor on duty declared him dead.

Police arrested three people in a raid across parts of the capital, including Rajabazar, on the night of the incident. On Wednesday, the court ordered them to be sent to jail pending trial.

The accused are Tamim Hawlader, 30, son of Ershad Hawlader, Palash Sardar, 30, son of Kamal Sardar, and Samrat Mallik, 28, son of Jatindranath Mallik -- all originally from Madaripur.

The victim’s elder brother, Shariful Islam, filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station on Wednesday morning, accusing 10 to 12 people.

Investigation officer Sub-Inspector Toufiq Hasan of Shahbagh police had petitioned for a 10-day remand on Thursday.

On Saturday, the judge granted six days to interrogate them following a hearing in the presence of the accused.

According to the petition, based on information received from Shammo’s friends, the three accused committed the act in collaboration with others, who have yet to be identified.

The accused need to be questioned in custody in the interest of proper investigation, unravelling the mystery and collecting information about the unknown accused, it added.

The accused were without legal representation in court on Saturday.

When the suspects were presented in court, the judge asked them, "Don't you have a lawyer?"

The accused said, "Yes”.

However, no lawyer was seen on their behalf during the hearing.

The judge wanted to know if the accused had anything to say.

Tamim then said, “We have shops on the sidewalks of Farmgate and Gulistan. Sales at the Gulistan shop were not good. That’s why we moved the shop from Gulistan to Farmgate. There was a wooden cot there, so we were moving it. The three of us were riding Suzuki bikes. On the way there, we went to Ramna Kali Mandir and sat down.

“I saw two groups of students running, who toppled our bike over. The looking glass was smashed. When we [protested], some people hit us indiscriminately and injured us.

“People then gathered around us. Police personnel from the Shahbagh station arrived. SI Kamal saw our condition and asked us to get medical attention. We went to Samarita Hospital for treatment. If we had committed a crime, we would have fled.”

Breaking down in tears, the three insisted that they did not commit the crime and were arrested simply based on speculation.

On the way from the court to the jail, Tamim said: "We are not involved in this murder. You all understand our mistake. Let there be a fair investigation into the case. Let the main accused be arrested. Why have we been arrested? We have no other option but to kill ourselves."

Samrat said, "We have been falsely framed. We are pedestrians. We went there to have tea."