C T Online Desk: Two separate cases were filed on Saturday night accusing over 500 people in connection with vandalism at the residence of the Chittagong University vice chancellor and buses of the transport department after 20 students sustained injuries when they fell off a university-bound shuttle train’s roof on Thursday night.
CU acting registrar KM Nur Ahmed and Security Officer Sheikh Md Abdur Razzaque filed the two cases on behalf of the university.
Abu Taiyeb Md Arif Hossain, additional superintendent of police, confirmed the matter saying that the cases were filed at Hathazari police station over allegations of extortion and torching buses.
The accused include 14 named persons and others are unidentified, he said.
Earlier on Thursday night, 20 students were injured after being hit by a branch of a tree when they were returning to campus from Chittagong city riding on the train’s roof due to overcrowding.
Sixteen of the injured students were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
As per the regular schedule, the university-bound shuttle train carrying over 2,000 students left the city’s New Market station At 8:30pm on Thursday.
Risking their lives, some students were seen travelling on the train’s roof due to a lack of seats.
As the train arrived in the Fatehabad area of Hathazari upazila, some students fell off the train after being hit by a branch of a tree which was hanging low due to rain.
Enraged by the incident, CU students vandalized the campus police outpost and shops and set tyres on fire in front of Zero Point at the university.
At one stage, they also moved to the bungalow of the university’s VC, went on a rampage there and torched buses, creating panic on the campus.
On Friday, VC Prof Dr Shireen Akthter held a press conference on the campus alleging that some miscreants carried out the vandalism and torched the buses.
