Injured in mob beating, ex-BCL leader dies in Rajshahi hospital
Abdullah Al Masud, a former leader of the Rajshahi University (RU) Chhatra League, succumbed to his injuries in the early hours today (8 September) in a Rajshahi hospital.
He sustained heavy injuries during a mob beating at the Vinodpur Bazaar area near the RU campus on late Saturday night (7 September).
Masud was then handed over to the police in an injured condition. He died around 12:30am while undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), said SM Masud Parvez, officer-in-charge (OC) of Boalia police station.
“Masud was attacked at the Vinodpur Bazaar area following allegations of an assault on students and locals. A group of students then took him to Motihar police station. However, since there were no cases of violence on 5 August registered there, he was transferred to Boalia police station, possibly to be implicated in a case of violence,” Parvez said.
The OC added, “Masud was severely injured in the mob beating. Considering his physical condition, he was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) with the assistance of the military, where he succumbed to his injuries. Legal procedures will be initiated in this matter if his family wishes so.”
Abdullah Al Masud was a former deputy secretary and a former member of the central committee of the RU Chhatra League.
Last night’s incident was not the first time he was attacked.
A decade ago, on 29 April 2014, Masud was attacked near the Zia Hall of Rajshahi University, resulting in the amputation of his right leg from the ankle and severe damage to his left leg.
The veins in his hand were also cut during this attack, which was allegedly carried out by members of a political party’s student wing.
In the 2014 attack, Masud lost a leg and was using a prosthetic leg to move around. His other leg was broken during last night’s attack.
Lying in the Boalia police station lock-up, Masud said, “I had come to Vinodpur to get medicine, brother. They caught me because I used to do the politics of the Chhatra League. But my leg was cut off back in 2014. All the veins were cut. I had stopped being involved with the Chhatra League a long time ago.”
When Masud was initially brought to the Boalia police station, Salahuddin Ammar, a key coordinator of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement at Rajshahi University, was present at the station.
Some people brought Masud in an auto-rickshaw and laid him down on the floor of the police station.
Upon hearing news of Masud’s death, Salahuddin said, “We were busy with the two people we had brought in. Amidst that, I saw someone being brought in injured, but I couldn’t recognise the people who brought him.”
In 2022, Masud wrote a letter to the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, explaining his situation and requesting for a job.
On 6 December that year, the Director-7 at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Mir Tafeya Siddika wrote to the Vice Chancellor of Rajshahi University (RU) requesting that Abdullah Al Masud be appointed as a Section Officer at the university.
Following the directive from the Prime Minister’s Office, Abdullah Al Masud was appointed as a Store Officer at the Rajshahi University Medical Center on 20 December, 2022.
He received his appointment letter on 22 December and joined the job. Since then, he has been working in this position.
On 3 September this year, Masud became the father of a daughter.
Just hours before getting beaten to death, Masud posted a picture of the newborn on Facebook.
