Rajib murder indictment deferred

Indictment in the murder case of Shahbagh activist Ahmed Rajib Haider has been deferred for the second time following a plea by the defence.

The head of extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team, Mufti Jashim Uddin Rahmani and seven students of Dhaka’s North South University are accused of hacking the blogger to death at Pallabi on Feb 15, a few days after the Ganajagaran Mancha movement for maximum penalty to 1971 war criminals began last year.

Dhaka’s Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Ruhul Amin on Thursday accepted the plea of the defence who cited lack of time for preparations.

The process began when Detective Branch Inspector Nabaran Chandra submitted a chargesheet on Jan 28.

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Seven months later, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Jahrul Hoque took the charges into cognisance and sent the case file to Dhaka’s Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judges Court for charge framing.

The seven NSU students are Faisal Bin Nayeem alias Deep, 22, Maksudul Hassan Anik, 23, Ehsan Reza Rumman, 23, Nayeem Sikder Irad, 19, Nafis Imtiaz, 22, Sadman Yasir Mahmud, 20, and Rezwanul Azad Rana, 30.

They were expelled from the private university after their arrest. Rana, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, is on the run.