MP beat me up and it was all planned | Rajshahi principal heard saying in audio clip, says the same to NU probe panel: sources

 

College Principal Salim Reza admitted to a probe committee that he was indeed assaulted by Rajshahi lawmaker Omor Faruk Chowdhury at the latter's chamber more than a week ago, according to two individuals who were present when Salim was talking to the committee members.

Salim, principal of Rajbari Degree College in Godagari upazila, termed the assault a "planned" one when he was interviewed by the three-member committee on Friday morning, the sources told The Daily Star.

During the interview at Salim's home in Rajshahi, the committee members headed by National University (NU) Registrar Molla Mahfuz Al-Hossain talked to the principal alone and also in presence of his family members and relatives.

However, the committee members did not talk to reporters about the findings.

NU Human Resources Director Jayanta Bhattacharjee, a member of the committee, said, "We are committed to finding the truth."

The probe body was formed on Wednesday amid reports that MP Omor assaulted Salim at his office on July 7.

The next day, the lawmaker held a press conference where the principal, sitting next to him, said he was not assaulted and the reports were false.

Meanwhile, Asaduzzaman Asad, former general secretary of Rajshahi district Awami League, held a press conference at his city office yesterday in which he gave reporters an audio clip of a conversation between Salim and former local union parishad chairman Akhteruzzaman.

Salim is heard in the clip saying that there was no meeting between the MP and college principals on July 7. "I was called there only to be beaten up."

Contacted, Akteruzzaman said the clip was an extract from a July 9 phone conversation between him and Salim.

"I called him after I heard about the assault," he told this correspondent.

Salim could not be reached for comments. But several individuals close to him said the voice heard in the clip was his. He has not left his house since July 7, they added.

In the audio clip, Salim was heard saying that the MP started acting aggressively from the moment he saw him.

The lawmaker asked Salim a question, and as soon as the latter said he didn't understand it, Omor started screaming.

"Then he jumped off his chair and started punching and kicking me. At a point, he loudly asked someone to bring him a hockey stick. And then he started hitting me with something blunt."

Salim then said he was tortured for at least 10 minutes in front of several other college principals.