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Published : 07 Nov 2014, 10:29 PM
The case's trial has been on halt for the past 10 years due to a stay order from the High Court.
Although the current government named four studios at the BTV Bhaban after the four slain officials, the prosecution has not reportedly moved against the court's stay order.
The officials killed at Rampura were Monirul Alam, one of the TV station's key founders, editor of Fortnightly Bichitra, the then BTV deputy director general, administrative officer AB Siddique, chief accountant Akmal Khan and photographer Firoz Kaiyum Chowdhury.
Three skeletons were recovered from Motijheel a year after the killing but Alam's body was never found. The skeletons were buried at Azimpur graveyard.
Four abduction cases filed by the families were eventually turned into murder cases.
The High Court slapped a stay order on the case proceedings on May 26, 2004.
None tied to the cases could say anything on their current state.
Ali's brother-in-law Mohammad Ali Swapan, who is also the number one witness, said the killers had secured bail from the High Court and were doing well.
“Although they were suspended during the case proceedings, now they are enjoying all service benefits including pension allowances. A few of the accused even secured promotion,” he said.
The wives of three victims have already died. Sons and daughters of three but Alam stay abroad while Alam’s son Rashed Alam works for a private TV station.
According to documents of the case, army personnel were deployed at radio and TV stations in Dhaka following the murders of Bangladesh’s founding president and most of his family on Aug 15, 1975.
Class three and four employees of the state-owned TV station were agitating at the time to realise their demands but the authorities were not accepting them.
Leaders of the agitating employees had meetings with army’s honorary lieutenant Altaf Hossain, deployed at the TV station at Rampura, who promised to help them in getting their demands accepted.
In a meeting on Nov 6, Hossain and the leaders decided to confine senior officials to press their demands.
Altaf Hossain, BTV employees Abul Quashem Bagoja, Abul Awal Sarkar, Lutfar Rahman Talukder, Syed Ainul Kabir, Ainuzzaman and Md Sahjahan Miaji detained Monirul Alam, Akmal Hossain and AB Siddique at the entrance on the morning of Nov 7 that year.
The charge-sheets of the case said the accused had plans to confine BTV Director General Jamil Chowdhury and General Manager Mustafa Monwar but they did not turn up at the office that day.
The accused also detained cameraman Firoz Kaiyum Chowdhury at noon when he protested against confinement of the three.
The case documents said the accused, headed by Altaf Hossain, killed three of them near the marshland, Hatirjheel, behind the TV station on Nov 7 night by shooting and charging bayonets and left the bodies in the water.
As the four did not return home, their wives filed abduction cases with Gulshan Police Station on Nov 19, 1975.
Later on Feb 17, 1976 three skeletons were found in Hatirjheel when it dried up.
Forensic tests confirmed that the remains were of Kaiyum Chowdhury, AB Siddique and Akmal Hossain. However, no remains of Monirul Alam were found.
The cases were then turned into a murder case but Detective Branch’s Sub-Inspector Jahangir Hossain gave the final report dropping charges in the case on Jan 9, 1976.
The court revived the case on Mar 25, 1997 on a police petition after victim Akmal Hossain’s wife made an appeal to the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Chief investigator of the case Md Fazlul Karim Khan pressed charge-sheet on Aug 18, 1999. The accused were later arrested but they soon secured bail.
The court on Aug 16, 2002 framed charges against nine accused -- Altaf Hossain, Abul Quashem Bagoja, Abul Kashem, Abul Awal Sarkar, Lutfar Rahman Talukder, Syed Ainul Kabir, Ainuzzaman, Md Sahjahan Miaji and AKM Zakaria Haider.
But the High Court stayed the case proceedings on May 26, 2004 on a petition from the accused and later the stay order was extended several times.
Accused Ainuzzaman died on Jun 4, 2004 while the High Court exonerated Abul Quashem Bagoja, Awal Sarkar and Lutfar Rahman Talukder on Apr, 2005.
Monirul Alam’s brother-in-law Mohammad Ali Swapan testified in the court on May 19, 2005 and the defence started cross-examining him, but the case was stuck due to the High Court stay.
Swapan has sought intervention of the law minister and the attorney general’s office for resumption of the case proceedings.
When contacted for his version about the case, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam invited the bdnew24.com correspondent to speak with him at his office.
