Student killed after 'assault' at dormitory over missing iPhone in Lakshmipur

A 14-year-old resident student at a school in Ramganj upazila of Lakshmipur was beaten and strangled yesterday evening allegedly by a group of senior students who accused him of stealing an iPhone.

The deceased, Mehedi Hasan, was a class eight student of Farid Ahmed Bhuiyan Academy and son of Zia Uddin and Sharmin Akhter of Raghavpur village in Sonapur Bazar area, said Md Firoz Uddin Chowdhury, officer-in-charge (OC) of local police station.

According to Md Ismail Hossain, a residential lecturer at the academy dormitory, an iPhone belonging to a higher secondary student went missing on June 14.

Without any evidence, Mehedi, a resident of Room 414, was suspected of stealing the phone, he alleged.

Around 6:30pm yesterday, nine senior students, including the owner of the phone, allegedly called Mehedi to Room 415 and assaulted him in an attempt to force a confession.

The lecturer alleged that Mehedi suffered serious injuries during the assault and later died.

He further claimed that the accused students subsequently hung the body from a window grille with a muffler in an apparent attempt to disguise the circumstances of the death.

At the time, most boarding students were either on the playground or attending prayers, he said.

"Just before Maghrib prayers, we recovered Mehedi and rushed him to Chatkhil Upazila Health Complex, where the attending doctor declared him dead," Ismail told The Daily Star.

The nine suspected students fled the dormitory shortly after the incident, according to academy authorities.

Speaking to The Daily Star today, the OC said the academy authorities informed police that senior students had allegedly assaulted Mehedi over the reported theft of a mobile phone.

However, he said it was too early to determine conclusively whether the assault caused the death.

However, police found marks of physical assault on the student's body as well as injury marks around his neck. “The exact cause of death will be known after we receive the post-mortem report," the OC said.

The body was sent to Noakhali General Hospital morgue for an autopsy, he added.

News of the death spread quickly through the academy and surrounding areas, prompting hundreds of guardians and local residents to gather outside the institution from around 8:00pm.

Around 11:00pm, a large crowd entered the academy premises and allegedly vandalised property and set fire to vehicles.

The lecturer claimed the institution suffered damage worth several crore taka during the unrest.

Ramganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Kazi Atiqur Rahman said he, along with police personnel, rushed to the academy after receiving reports of the incident.

However, the large number of agitated people initially made the situation difficult to control, he said.

Additional police were later deployed from Lakshmipur district headquarters, and the situation was brought under control at around 2:00am.

"In view of the prevailing situation and to maintain order on the campus, the academy has been closed for the next seven days on an emergency basis," the UNO said.

Meanwhile, after the post-mortem examination today, relatives of the deceased and local residents staged a demonstration outside Ramganj Police Station at around 1:00pm, bringing Mehedi's body with them.

The protesters demanded the immediate arrest of those responsible and the maximum punishment for the perpetrators.

The demonstration ended around 2:00pm after the OC assured them that police would conduct a proper investigation and bring those involved to justice.

The autopsy report was made public till this afternoon.

Jewel Rana, an uncle of the deceased, said, “My nephew was beaten to death over a false allegation of stealing an iPhone." He demanded exemplary punishment for those responsible.

No case had been filed as of filing this report, although efforts were underway to arrest the accused students, the OC said.

Repeated attempts to contact academy principal Khondokar Abdul Mannan for comment were unsuccessful.

Local guardians and residents questioned how such an incident could have occurred inside a residential institution without being detected by teachers or dormitory authorities.