Preliminary police investigations suggest Jagannath University student and JCD leader Jobayed Hossen was killed over jealousy involving the female college student he used to tutor.
On Monday morning, Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Bangshal police station, shared the findings with the media after interrogating the detained college student.
According to police, CCTV footage from the crime scene shows two suspects — one identified as Mahir Rahman, while the other remains unidentified.
Multiple police teams have been working since Saturday night to apprehend both suspects.
Mahir and the detained girl reside in the same neighborhood.
OC Rafiqul Islam said Mahir had been in a relationship with the girl for nine years.
Mahir is a first-year student at Borhanuddin College, while the girl is in her second year at Dhaka Mohanagar Mohila College. They had known each other since childhood.
He added that the couple’s relationship had recently soured. After their breakup, the girl reportedly told Mahir that she now liked Jobayed. Enraged by this, Mahir, along with his friend Nafis, allegedly killed Jobayed.
Rafiqul further said that although the girl had expressed admiration for Jobayed, there was no evidence of a romantic relationship between them — no personal messages or signs of close contact were found.
“The incident appears to have been driven primarily by Mahir’s anger toward the girl,” he said. During interrogation, it was also revealed that the girl had become acquainted with one of Jobayed’s friends, Saikat, through Facebook, though there was no personal or emotional connection between them.
The OC said the girl remained calm and composed throughout the questioning, showing no signs of distress or nervousness.
“We are conducting a deeper investigation and will disclose further details later,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jobayed’s classmates suspect the girl’s involvement, as she allegedly shared his live location before the murder. In her initial statement to police, the girl said she had called Jobayed to ask how far he was, and that he had voluntarily shared his live location.
Despite the passage of time since the incident, no case has yet been filed.
Jobayed’s elder brother, Enayet Hossain Saikat, said: “We wanted to file a case against the girl, her parents, and three others, but the OC advised us not to include her parents’ names, saying it would weaken the case. However, we insist on naming them. We want justice for my brother’s murder.”
Regarding the case, OC Rafiqul Islam said: “We will register the case as the family wishes. I only advised them to consult university teachers before finalizing their decision.”
On Sunday evening, police recovered Jobayed’s blood-stained body from the staircase of a building on Pani Pump Lane in Armanitola.
He had been tutoring the college student in physics, chemistry, and biology at an apartment in that building.
Jobayed Hossain was a student of the 2019–20 academic session in the Department of Statistics at Jagannath University. He also served as president of the Comilla District Students’ Welfare Association and as a convening member of the university unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
