Faridpur BNP leader in the dock

Prosecutor Mokhlesur Rahman Badal submitted the formal charges to ICT-1 registrar on Sunday. The plea for arrest warrant was submitted with the report. The prosecution has brought 10 charges including murder, genocide, rape, loot, and forcible religious conversion against the BNP leader. It has named 50 witnesses. Hossain, locally known as Khokan Razakar, is the mayor of Nagarkanda municipality. Prosecutor Badal said Zahid Hossain is a self-declared collaborator of the Pakistan army. "The freedom fighters had fought a battle with the Pakistan army and its local collaborators on May 29, 1971. Hossain become the chief of Nagarkanda Razakar unit after the death of his brother Zafar, also a collaborator, in that battle," he said. According to the tribunal investigators, Khokan Razakar had campaigned for Jamaat-e-Islami in the 1970 national election. He later joined the BNP and became the Vice President of the Nagarkanda BNP unit. He was elected mayor to the Nagarkanda municipality in 2011 and had been absconding since taking oath. ICT investigator Satya Ranjan Roy began probing allegations against him on Apr 16 last year. He recorded testimony of 78 people during the investigation.