The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) says it will expel the students involved in the killing of second-year student Abrar Fahad.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Saiful Islam made the announcement on Tuesday (Oct 8) before demonstrators after being under siege in his offices for almost an hour amid the second day of campus protests over the murder of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering department student.

“Those involved with the murder of Abrar will be expelled in line with the university regulations. I have discussed with minister and deputy minister to the ministry of education over your demands. We agree in principal with those,” he told the demonstrating students.

A day after the killing at the early hours of Monday (Oct 7) at the Sher-e-Bangla residential hall, VC Islam went to his offices around 5pm but even after half an hour of his arrival didn’t give a decision on meeting with the students.

Following the delay, the students locked his offices from outside and started raising slogans, demanding justice for Abrar.

The VC remained absent from campus all day on Monday (Oct 7) and was not in the official residence on the campus.

He remained absent despite the outrage sparked by Abrar’s killing who was beaten to death allegedly by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) BUET unit leaders for his Facebook status regarding the instruments signed between India and Bangladesh.

Students expressed their indignation over the matter and demanding death sentence for the killers of Abrar, they brought out protest rallies on Tuesday (Oct 8).

As part of their eight-point demands they said that the VC has to come to the campus by five pm and answer to questions. However, students locked him in his office when he didn’t fix a meeting with them.

Abrar, a second-year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, was found dead in the stairway in the early hours of Monday.

A resident of Sher-e-Bangla Hall, Abrar was called up from his room at 7:30pm on Sunday, said police, quoting the students of the hall.

Later, his body was found on the first-floor stairway of the hall at 2am on Monday and post mortem reports showed that he was beaten of death.

His killing sparked protests amongst the university students, while his family blamed BCL over the incident.