Former assistant proctor of Chittagong University (CU), Anwar Hossain, has been sent to jail after he surrendered before a Chittagong court in the Chhatra League leader Diaz Irfan Chowdhury murder case. Chittagong chief judicial magistrate Munshi M Mashiar Rahman passed the order after rejecting the bail petition of Anwar Hossain, said Diaz's sister, advocate Zubaida Sarwar, yesterday. She said Anwar had taken bail six weeks ago, which expired on Sunday.

Following the order, all the accused BCL leaders, who were sued over the murder of Diaz, along with their followers, demonstrated at the main gate of the university, demanding the immediate release of the assistant proctor and the withdrawal of the case. Later, the irate group locked the university's main entrance around 12 noon and disconnected the pipes of a shuttle train at the university railway station.

The group was led by Alamgir Tipu, former president of the CU unit of the BCL and one of the accused in the Diaz murder case. Tipu is also known to be a follower of AJM Nasir Uddin, the mayor of the port city.

“We're protesting against the decision to send Anwar Chowdhury to jail under false allegations. We'll enforce an indefinite strike on the campus if he is not released soon,” he said. Niaz Murshed Ripon, assistant proctor of CU, said: “After

hearing the news, we rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control.”

“Rail communication with the university was disrupted after the BCL men, all followers of Tipu, allegedly cut the pipes of a coach of a shuttle at the university railway station.

To avert further clashes, additional law enforcers have been deployed on the campus,” he added.

The agitators were still on the campus, locking the university's main gate and halting the shuttle train service, at the time of filing the report.

Diaz Irfan Chowdhury, an assistant secretary of the BCL central committee, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his residence near Gate-2 of CU on the night of November 20 last year.

On July 30, a second autopsy, conducted by the doctors of the forensic medicine department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, had stated that Diaz had been murdered. The court ordered the criminal investigation department (CID) to conduct the inquiry.

On August 7, a Chittagong court issued an arrest warrant against 10 people, including an assistant proctor of Chittagong University (CU) and several current and former leaders and activists of the BCL, in a case filed over the murder of Diaz.

The warrant had been issued against CU assistant proctor Md Anowar Hossain, Md Alamgir Tipu, president of the suspended BCL committee of CU, Jamshedul Alam Chowdhury, former general secretary of the committee, Md Mansur, senior vice-president of the committee, Abdul Malek, vice-president of the committee, Rashedul Alam Jisan, publicity secretary of the committee, and former BCL men Mizanur Rahman, Abu Torab Porosh, Ariful Haque Apu and Md Arman. Ten more unidentified people shown made accused in the case filed by Diaz’s mother Jaheda Amin Chowdhury on November 24, 2016.