In less than 40 minutes, a young life was cut short. Bishwajit Das, barely 24, was murdered by some Chhatra League brutes that mercilessly beat him, taking him for a blockade supporter. Around 9:00am on Sunday. Johnson Road, Old Dhaka. An explosion was heard. Chased by some unruly activists of BCL, Bishwajit ran for life and scurried onto the second floor of a nearby building. But his murderers hunted him down as he was trying to take shelter in a dental clinic on the floor. For about five minutes, they beat and hacked him indiscriminately as they dragged him down to the streets. Some of them continued pounding him even as he tried to escape. In a desperate attempt, Bishwajit did manage to free himself from his attackers and cross the road, but collapsed around 9:10am. Some pedestrians then put him on a rickshaw that took him to Mitford Hospital in about 10 minutes. He gasped for air in the hospital for 15-17 minutes. Then silence. And as a precious life met an untimely end, hundreds of curious onlookers watched it as silent observers.Photo: STAR