Senior Judicial Magistrate M Jasim Uddin recorded the confessional statement of Mohammad Jony in the afternoon, said court police inspector Hedayetullah Islam Bhuiyan and officer-in-charge of Gazaria Police Station Harunur Rashid.

Payel, a 5th semester NSU student and son of Golam Mawla of Halishahar in the port city of Chattogram, was found dead in a canal at Bhaterchar in Gazaria upazila on Monday.

In his confessional statement, Jony told the court that the Dhaka-bound bus from Chattogram was caught in a tailback at Bahterchar on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in the early hours of Saturday.

At that time, Payel got down from the bus to respond to the call of nature. As the bus started moving when the traffic jam eased, Payel started running to catch the bus.

At one stage, the driver stopped the bus. However, the university student got his head smashed with the auto gate and fell onto the road. He fell unconscious as his mouth and nose were bleeding profusely.

Later, the supervisor told the matter to the bus driver and after a discussion, they along with the bus helper threw Payel into the canal from a nearby bridge around 4:30am while he was still alive.

Other passengers of the bus could not understand anything as they were asleep.

According to the autopsy report, Payel died swallowing 10-15 litres of water after being thrown into the canal, said the OC.

Police arrested Jony from Motijheel in the capital on Tuesday night when he confessed to police to his involvement in the killing of the private university student.

Following his statement, the law enforcers arrested bus driver M Jamal Hossain and helper Mohammad Faisal from Arambagh of the capital on Wednesday.

A case was filed accusing the three with Gazaria Police Station on Tuesday night, said Harunur Rashid.