Arrest warrants for Harris Chowdhury, BNP mayors in Kibria murder

A Habiganj court has issued warrants of arrest against 11 persons including Khaleda Zia's former political secretary Harris Chowdhury and Sylhet Mayor Ariful Haq Chowdhury, in the case over the murder of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria.

Investigation officer, Sylhet's ASP Meherun Nesa Parul, submitted a supplementary chargesheet to the court on Sunday.

Habiganj's Senior Judicial Magistrate Rashid Ahmed Miron accepted it and ordered arrest of the eleven, including Sylhet mayor Ariful Haq Chowdhury and Habiganj mayor GK Gaus, whose names were added in the supplementary chargesheet.

Harris Chowdhury is already an accused in the Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack and Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases. He is on the run as the cases are in progress.

Central BNP leader Ariful Haq is also a member of the party’s Sylhet metropolitan unit convenor committee. He was elected mayor last year.

Gaus is the general secretary of the BNP’s Habiganj district unit. He is serving as Habiganj mayor for a second consecutive term.

Shah AMS Kibria was fatally wounded in a grenade attack on Jan 27, 2005 while returning from a rally in Habiganj Sadar. He died on way to Dhaka.

His nephew Shah Monjurul Huda, Awami League leaders Abdur Rahim, Abul Hossain and Siddique Ali were also killed and over 100 party activists injured in the attack.

Then general secretary of Habiganj Awami League unit, Abdul Majid Khan filed two cases over the attacks – one for the killings and the other under the Explosives Act -- the same night.

The investigation officer Munshi Atiqur Rahman , ASP of CID , pressed charges against 10 people on Mar 20 the same year.

On May 3 the following year, the plaintiff objected to the chargesheet at Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal but the court rejected his plea.

He on May 14 moved the High Court, which issued a rule asking why further investigations would not be done.

The government moved the Appellate Division for a hearing on the High Court order four days later but was refused.

However, CID's Assistant SP Rafiqul Islam was tasked with further investigations during the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker regime.

Islam accused 14 people, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Bangladesh (HuJI) leader Mufti Hannan, in his chargesheet submitted on June 20, 2011.

But Kibria's wife Asma Kibria filed an objection to the chargesheet eight days later at the Habiganj court.

On Jan 5 the following year, Sylhet's Speedy Trial Tribunal accepted the objection plea and ASP Parul was made the third investigation officer to conduct further investigation.