Police in Bahubal, Habiganj, arrested a man identified as Jasim Uddin on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of involvement in the murder of student leader Saiful Islam. Bahubal Model Police Station later handed him over to Habiganj District Detective Branch for further investigation. The arrest came about two and a half years after Saiful went missing in early March 2024.

Saiful was the general secretary of Satkapon Union Chhatra Dal and a student at Mirpur Alif Sobhan Chowdhury College. After leaving home, he could not be traced despite searches by relatives. About five days later, police recovered his decomposed body, with his hands and feet tied and placed in a sack, from a haor near Pail village in Habiganj Sadar.

Police initially suspected that assailants killed Saiful and dumped the body in water to conceal evidence. His father, Abdul Malek, filed a murder case against unidentified people at Habiganj Sadar Police Station. After the family sought further investigation, the case was transferred to the district detective branch. DB officer-in-charge Ranjit Chandra said the investigation remains underway and expressed hope that the facts behind the killing would soon emerge.