A microbus carrying eight leaders of the Student Movement Against Discrimination was allegedly attacked by muggers on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in Narayanganj’s Sonargaon upazila early Monday, police said.
Based on the nature of the attack and initial accounts, it is suspected to be a mugging incident, said Mohammad Abdul Bari, officer-in-charge of the Sonargaon police station.
He said that police detained one person in connection with the incident.
‘A patrol team was present near the spot, and as soon as our patrol team rushed there, the muggers ran away. Efforts are on to identify and apprehend all the attackers,’ he added.
One of the victims, Mahmuda Sultana Rimi, the central executive committee member of the platform, said that a group of individuals wearing masks stopped the vehicle when traffic slowed on the highway.
‘The attackers broke windows of the microbus and looted mobile phones and wallets from us before fleeing,’ she said.
The incident took place at about 2:00am in Narayanganj as eight student leaders were traveling to Bandarban’s Lama for attending an event, she said, adding that at least three leaders, including she, suffered minor injuries from broken glasses during the attack.
‘There were other vehicles at the time but the attackers surprisingly attacked only ours,’ she added.
Leaders in the vehicle were Arif Sohel, member secretary of the central executive committee of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, and its members Mahmuda Sultana Rimi, Rupaiya Srestha Tenchongya, Rakib Mohammad, Moinul Islam, and Ibrahim Nirab, Dhaka University student Yasmin Mitu, and student leader Mishu Ali.
Student Movement Against Discrimination convener Hasnat Abdullah in a Facebook post on Monday called for a thorough investigation into the incident and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.
