A bust of Shaheed Madhusudan De -- founder of Dhaka University's Modhur Canteen and a martyr of the Liberation War -- located in front of the Institute of Business Administration building, was found damaged last night.

Details of who is responsible or when it occurred could not be determined at the time of filing this report at 4:30pm.

The broken part of the sculpture was repaired at midnight.

The damage to the sculpture comes at a time when various Islamist groups are being increasingly vocal against sculptures.

"'I went back from the campus at evening on Wednesday and everything was fine. But after hearing the news at around 7:30pm, I went to the canteen again and saw an ear of my father's sculpture was broken," said Arun Kumar Dey, eldest son of Madhusudan De, and current owner of Modhur Canteen.

"I informed the Vice Chancellor (VC), the proctor, Shahbagh Police Station and the Chhatra League president, secretary. University authorities sent a proctorial team and police came to visit. At midnight, we called a repairman and put the ear back in place," said Arun Dey.

When asked, Dhaka University Proctor AKM Golam Robbani told The Daily Star that it is not yet known whether the incident was intentional or unintentional. The people concerned have been asked to investigate, he added.

The sculpture was first inaugurated by the then VC of the University, Emajuddin Ahmed, in 1995.

After the reconstruction of the sculpture in its present location, it was inaugurated in 2001 by the then VC, AK Azad Chowdhury.

The martyr's bust was sculpted by Tawfiq Hossain Khan.