July Uprising: Chargesheet filed against Hasan, Nowfel, Javed over killing of shoe shop employee

A Chattogram court has accepted a chargesheet against 231 suspects, including several former Awami League ministers and members of parliament, over the killing of a shop employee during the July Uprising.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Mostafa issued the order on Thursday, making it the first murder case from the mass uprising in Chattogram in which charges have been formally accepted.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Md Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury said the court accepted the chargesheet over the murder of Shahidul Islam Shahid, a shoe shop employee who was killed on Aug 3, 2024, during the Students Against Discrimination protests at Bahaddarhat intersection under Chandgaon Police Station.

During the hearing, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Shafiqul Islam argued that some innocent people had been accused who were not named in the original complaint. The court dismissed the objection and directly accepted the chargesheet.

The victim’s brother, Shafiqur Islam, had initially filed a case against eight named individuals and several unidentified others.

The investigation officer later filed the chargesheet against 231 people in late July.

So far, 84 people have been arrested in connection with the case.

Chandgaon Police Station chief Aftab Uddin had previously said those named in the chargesheet were individuals whose involvement had been proven during the investigation.

The list includes former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, and former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed.

Two former city mayors, AJM Nasir Uddin and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, are also among the accused.

Shahidul Islam, 37, was shot dead in Bahaddarhat on Aug 3, 2024, while returning home.

Passersby took him to Park View Hospital, where he died, before the body was transferred to Chittagong Medical College Hospital. An autopsy confirmed that he died of gunshot wounds.

His brother filed a murder case on Aug 19, 2024 naming eight individuals and 300 to 400 unidentified people.

Investigators later recovered “10 metal pellets” from Shahidul’s body, which forensic experts concluded had been fired from a shotgun, a firearm, or a locally made gun.

The chargesheet alleges that Awami League leaders, activists, and affiliates, acting under senior leadership, staged processions with sticks and firearms to resist the demonstrations last year, and then launched armed attacks on protesters.

According to investigators, Mohiuddin Farhad fired the first shot, followed by armed assailants Md Firoz, Touhidul Islam, and Delwar with shotguns.

Others, including Md Jalal, HM Mithu, Nur Mostafa Tinu, Ribhu Majumdar, and Md Tasin, also fired, wounding several more.

Police say 151 cases were filed in Chattogram over deaths and injuries linked to attacks on protesters and the public during last year’s movement.

This is the first case in which a chargesheet has been filed.