Reinvestigation sought into murder case

Dhaka, July 5 (bdnews24.com) – One of the counsels of the accused in a murder case over the 2009 BDR mutiny in Dhaka has demanded reinvestigation into the case.

Faruk Ahmed made the demand on Tuesday during the hearing on an appeal on reliving his client from the charges.

The hearing started at 9:50am at the temporary court set up on the ground adjacent to Dhaka Central Jail and Alia Madrasah.

The court was adjourned until July 13 after relieving appeals of 215 accused were read out.

Faruk Ahmed and 39 other counsels of the accused submitted the appeals.

He submitted that the details of the case were faulty and it was essential to reinvestigate into the case for sake of fair trial.

Faruk said officer-in-charge of the Lalbagh Police Station Nabajyoti Khisa was the plaintiff of the case, but Peelkhana is not an area under his jurisdiction. When the fault was discovered, the case was transferred to the New Market Police Station.

He said: "Major Kamruzzaman in his testimonies mentioned that an ash colour car came to the BDR headquarters on the first day of the rebellion. Moreover, the canisters of ammunitions found are not used in BDR. So, it seems to me that a third quarter is involved in this incident. And it maybe found out through reinvestigation."

Faruk claimed that Awami League leaders Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapash and Sheikh Selim in their testimonies admitted that they had meeting with the BDR soldiers.

Referring to the Section 44 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), he said the provision stipulates that one shall inform the court and law enforcers if one can guess or get the information that a crime is going to take place.

"Otherwise, they shall be considered criminals as per the Section 202 of the Penal Code," he said indicating the non-indictment of the Awami League leaders in the case.

The counsel further said: "Specific allegations should be mentioned before accusing anyone in any case. But the charges are not mentioned in the case. Moreover, the exact time of the incident is not mentioned."

The case details also say that plaintiff was not present on the spot and he filed the case after analysing the whole incident. "But no information regarding the analysis is mentioned in the case," he claimed.

On May 23 this year, the prosecution completed reading out charges against 847 accused, including former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu.

The hearing on the appeals to relive the accused of the charges in the Peelkhana massacre started on June 20.

At least 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the Feb 25-26 carnage in 2009 at the Peelkhana headquarters of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), earlier known as BDR.

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