A missing portion of rice and fish appears to have triggered the chain of events that ended with university student Md Ajmul Hossain being beaten and falling from the roof of a four-storey student mess in Khulna.
But investigators are now trying to establish whether the allegation over food was merely the beginning of the violence -- or whether accusations of previous thefts, demands for money and other grievances were also behind the fatal assault.
Police have so far arrested four people in the murder case.
One of them, former Khulna University student Hasnat Habib Rifat, has given a confessional statement before a court, while mess manager Mehedi remains on the run.
Police say questioning has indicated that Ajmul was initially beaten on suspicion of taking another resident’s food, while allegations involving other stolen items and a demand for money are being investigated.
Ajmul, a first-year English student at North Western University, lived in room D-8 on the fourth floor of the mess near Khulna University.
The events began late Friday night after residents discovered that food prepared for nine students sharing a meal plan was short.
Fatema, the mess cook, said Ajmul was not part of that meal arrangement.
She had prepared fish with bottle gourd for nine students that night, but the food apparently ran short.
Residents then began searching rooms.
Three neighbours, speaking on condition of anonymity, said students searched the building from the ground floor to the fourth.
Eventually, a plate containing half-eaten rice and fish was allegedly found under a bed in Ajmul’s room.
That was when the assault began.
“A few of them started slapping and hitting him,” one witness said, adding that attempts to intervene failed.
Word quickly spread that a “thief” had been caught, drawing people from nearby messes to the building.
Ajmul was subsequently taken to the rooftop.
Witnesses said they did not follow the group upstairs.
A mess resident said people who gathered on the roof demanded that Ajmul return allegedly stolen items.
At one point, his father was called and money was demanded, according to the resident.
Police say the allegations against Ajmul eventually expanded beyond the missing food to clothes, money and other items.
What happened on the rooftop remains the most critical unanswered question.
Ajmul fell from the roof during the beating and was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Investigators have yet to determine whether he jumped, was pushed or was thrown.
Rifat, who was arrested in Pirojpur, later confessed before a Khulna court to involvement in the assault, according to police.
Investigators said he named former Khulna University student Pratap Sarkar and Tarek Hasan Rubel, a juice-shop owner near Khanjahan Ali Hall, as also having participated in the beating.
Police said Rifat and Pratap lived in the same mess as Ajmul, while Rubel arrived after hearing about the incident and joined the assault.
Eight people were present during the attack, according to Harintana police.
Ajmul’s father, Kutub Uddin, has filed a murder case naming four people and accusing another 20-25 unidentified individuals.
Investigators are now looking beyond the initial food-theft allegation.
Harintana Police Station Officer-in-Charge Iqbal Hossain said police were examining allegations that money was demanded from Ajmul and trying to determine whether there were other grievances against him.
Much of that, police believe, may become clearer once fugitive mess manager Mehedi is arrested.
For now, investigators have established the sequence that began with missing food, escalated into accusations of theft and a group beating, and ended with Ajmul falling from the roof.
What they have yet to establish is why the confrontation became fatal, and exactly how Ajmul went over the edge.
