Is it an underwater magnetic pull or a mini "Bermuda Triangle" that has killed one man a year on average over the last 30-40 years at the mysterious pond at the Shahidullah Hall, the oldest student dormitory at the Dhaka University.
Residents of the dormitory and people living around, including teachers and employees of DU, particularly of the Shahidullah Hall, named after a great Bengali scholar, have been mystified, not terrified though.
They want to know who takes the "sacrifice" in the form of a life of a student or anyone else who come for a dip or a casual bath in this pond.
Some people believe the victim is sucked to death by magnetic pull created by electric fish in this pond (which has not been confirmed yet by any research or study). Some feel the pond holds a minuscule prototype of the "Bermuda Triangle" in the North Atlantic Ocean-- which notoriously gulps down and vanishes any ship passing by it.
The third belief is that the Shahidullah Hall pond may have a live power under water like the Hindu Goddess "Kali" who needs human blood (if not flesh) to fulfill its annual rite.
No one knows for sure what it exactly is but truth is that one life is lost in this pond every year for reason no one even tried to find out yet. A life gets lost, gives scoop for hectic talk on the campus for a few days and then all ends in vapor. Life gets back to usual at the Hall, bathing continues in the pond.
However, one of three ghats (pyres) at this pond has been permanently closed with wire fencing since many years ago. The other ghats are open.
Skeptics say some of the boys who died in this pond may have killed themselves out of frustration in love or due to family feuds or quarrel with friends. Nothing is confirmed but the lives are lost as a matter of routine. While some people call his pond a curse, majority take the deaths as accidents and don't take it seriously. Nor do the university or hall authorities.
The latest victim dead body was founded on last Sunday. Fire Service and Civil Defence members recovered the floating dead body of an unidentified man, aged about 38, from the Shahiduallah Hall pond.
On May 13 last year, a student of DU drowned in the pond while he was taking a bath along with other students. The deceased was identified as Mafizul Islam Rahi, a second year student of physics department of DU.
A BUET student was also found dead in this mysterious pond in 2009, while, on October 13 in 2008, Mahmudul Haq Saikat, an admission seeker drowned in the Shahidullah Hall pond at DU.
Earlier, three children of Nimtoli and Chankharpul slums died when swimming in this pond.
To some people, the mystery at this pond also make it a point of attraction. "I will keep coming here as long as I am the resident of Shahidullah Hall and may be after I have passed out," one student said.
An employee of the Hall, Abdul Kader told the Daily Observer that the victims who died in mysterious circumstances were in most cases the "only son" of their families. Even the latest victim was so, he added.
Prof Dr Md Abul Bashar, Chairman of Biology Department, said the reasons behind the "pond" deaths are not known as there has not been any scientific research to ascertain them.  "At least 30-40 students-people have died in the pond over as many years," said another long-time employee of the university. He, however, strongly denied "existence" of ghosts or supernatural powers on the campus.