Police find no conspiracy behind PM plane glitch, recommend acquittal of all 11 accused

Police have submitted the report on the investigation into the technical glitch in a plane carrying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, recommending acquittal of all 11 accused people in a case over the incident.

Mahbubul Alam, an ASP at the Detective Branch who investigated the case, said in the report he found no plot by the accused people behind the incident. 

He submitted the report at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on Thursday evening, but it could not be accepted as no judge was present, the court police’s Recording Officer SM Moniruzzaman Mandal told bdnews24.com.      

Moniruzzaman said the report pleaded for acquittal of all 11 accused, but recommended ‘non-prosecution action’ against three of them for minor negligence.  

He said the court earlier set Dec 11 as the deadline to submit the report.

He added that the court might accept the report on that day.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines started the case accusing nine of its officials. Police later arrested two other people during investigation.

The 11 accused include Biman’s Chief Engineer (Production) Debesh Chowdhury, Chief Engineer (Quality Assurance) SA Siddik and Principal Engineer (System and Maintenance) Billal Hossain, and Engineering Officer Nazmul Haque.

The others are the engineering department’s SM Rokonuzzaman, Samiul Haque, Lutfur Rahman, Milon Chandra Biswas, Zakir Hossain and Technical Officer Siddiqur Rahman, Junior Technician Shah Alam.

The flag carrier suspended all of them following the glitch which forced the pilot to make an emergency landing at Turkmenistan on its way to Hungary on Nov 27 after a drop in engine oil or lubricant pressure in one of the engines.

The aircraft completed its journey to Budapest after a four-hour delay for repairs.