21 charged for Biswajit murder

Police on Tuesday charged 21 Chhatra League activists for the Dec 9 murder of Biswajit Das during an opposition-sponsored road blockade.

Detective Branch Inspector Tajul Islam filed the chargesheet with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka implicating them.

Earlier Tuesday, Detective Branch’s Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanwar Hossain told bdnews24.com that they prepared the chargesheet against them.

Hossain said seven of the accused had already been arrested.

The officials identified them as the activists of the Jagannath University unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of the ruling Awami League.

Biswajit, a tailoring shop owner, was beaten and stabbed on Dec 9 during the opposition-sponsored countrywide road blockade to press for the installation of a non-partisan caretaker government.

He succumbed to his injuries after being taken to the hospital. A private TV station screened the footage of the attack. The murder caught the ruling party on the wrong foot as the attackers were identified as members of Chhatra League.

Nine students, including some former ones, faced action taken by the university authorities involving the murder.

Police in the chargesheet said 21 Chhatra League activists were involved in the murder.

Police said four of the accused have already confessed that they were linked with the murder, leading the investigators to find the others involved.

The government had earlier said the attackers were not members of Chhatra League. Later confusion arose when the number of the arrestees, mentioned by the Home Minister, had not matched the police version.

The charged are Rafikul Islam Shakil, Rajon Talukder, Yunus Ali, Kaiyum Mia Tipu, H M Kibria, Obaidur Kader Tahsin, Azizur Rahman, ‘Alauddin’, Imran Hossain, ‘Mostafa’, Mahfuzur Rahman Nahid, Rasheduzzaman Shaon, Mir Noor-e-Alam Limon, Al-Amin, Saiful Islam, Rafique, Emdadul Haque, ‘Kamrul’, ‘Tamal’, ‘Pavel’ and ‘Mosharraf’.

Of them, ‘Shakil’, ‘Nahid’, ‘Emdad’, ‘Shaon’, ‘Kibria’, ‘Saiful’ and ‘Kaiyum’ are now in police custody.

Some others were also detained, but primary police investigation found them irrelevant. The investigator appealed to the court for dropping Mamun-or-Rashid, Faruk Hossain, Quazi Nahid-uz-Zaman Tuhin and Moslehuddin Moslem as accused.

The chargesheet says no evidence of their involvement in the murder was found.

Sixty people have been made witnesses.