Ansar Mia could not believe what he was watching on television.

His son was hacking a young man about his age with a machete. The young man, all soaked in blood, was trying to get away, pleading and screaming. But his son would not let go of the dying man. He goes after Bishwajit, serving blow after blow.

Ansar Mia's head spun. In front of his eyes, his son, Rafiqul Islam Shakil, is morphing into a ferocious beast. A beast killing an innocent tailor, Bishwajit Das, in the capital's Sutrapur on Sunday, the day of the opposition blockade.

“I watched on TV that my son [Shakil] was hacking Bishwajit with a sharp weapon. I couldn't believe my eyes ... that my son might kill someone so cruelly,” he told The Daily Star at his Patuakhali residence yesterday.

“I want punishment of my son,” Ansar, a retired employee of Patuakhali income tax office, added with all the sadness of the world. “I knew that my son was engaged in student politics but I didn't know he became such a danger man.”

Following the incident, Ansar tried in vain to contact his son over the phone, but he could not get through.

Shakil, a sixth-semester student of Islamic history and culture of Jagannath University, left Patuakhali after passing class eight and has been staying at a relative's house in the capital since.

Like, Ansar Mia, Nurul Islam, father of another alleged killer Noore Alam, said his son should be

handed appropriate punishment if found guilty.

Nurul had a dream: His son would complete studies, get a job and support the family. But that dream has shattered when he heard his son was involved in the killing of Bishwajit, said Noore Alam's cousin MirGaffarAli.

“For whom did I work so hard all my life? I pulled rickshaw and worked as a day labourer so he can study. But all my efforts have gone in vain. My son has gone astray,” said Nurul, adding that nothing could get any sadderthan this.

Gaffar Ali said they came to know about Noore Alam's involvement in the killing through the media.

Meanwhile, Zohra Khatun, mother of another alleged killer Emdadul Haque, has been crying since she saw on TV her son beating Bishwajit with an iron rod, said Emdadul's cousin Akhtaruzzaman.

“I knew my son to be good. I never thought he could be involved in any wrongdoing,” Zohra was quoted as saying at her Jessore house.

According to Akhtaruzzaman, Zohra said it was only usual