Lorry driver Riaz Uddin arrested over IIUC student Maisha's death in Sitakunda

Police have arrested the lorry driver accused in the death of Maisha Mushfirat, a student of the International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), who was crushed under a minibus that overturned after being hit by a lorry in Sitakunda, Chattogram.

A team of the district Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested the driver in a raid on Thursday (November 5). The arrest was announced in a press release sent by the Chattogram district police on Thursday night.

The arrested driver is Md Riaz Uddin, 32. His home is in the Batir Tek area under Noakhali Sadar police station, and he is the son of Abu Taher.

According to the release, a special DB team carried out the raid under the direction of Superintendent of Police Md Masud Alam. The process of taking further legal action against him is under way.

Angry students had earlier demanded that the driver be arrested within 24 hours of their classmate's death. The district police release said the demand was taken seriously and efforts were made to identify and arrest the driver.

Maisha Mushfirat was 21. She was a second-semester student of IIUC's Department of English Language and Literature. Her home was in the Bothtakia area of Khaiyachhara union in Mirsarai upazila; she was the daughter of Sakhawat Hossain and Salma Akter.

The accident happened at around 9:30am on Tuesday (November 3). With classes suspended, Maisha was waiting for a vehicle to go home beside the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in front of the university's main gate at Kumira in Sitakunda, when a lorry hit a minibus standing there and the bus toppled onto her.

Maisha and several others were seriously injured at the scene. Doctors declared her dead after she was taken to hospital. Three people in total, including two other students, were injured in the accident.

CCTV footage of the accident showed two lorries travelling side by side at high speed. At one point one of the lorries hit the stationary minibus, which tilted and overturned, trapping Maisha underneath.

As news of their classmate's death spread, angry students blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram highway at around 11:30am and also occupied the adjacent railway line. Road and rail communication stopped, and long tailbacks built up on both sides of the highway.

After about five hours, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Jahidul Islam Miah and Superintendent of Police Md Masud Alam went to the spot and assured the students that their five-point demands would be implemented in phases, and the blockade was withdrawn at around 4:15pm. Traffic on the road and railway then returned to normal. One of the students' demands was the quick arrest of the lorry driver involved in the accident and bringing him under the law.