HC orders DNA test to identify Harris Chy

The High Court (HC) has directed the authorities concerned to do a DNA test of one Mahmudur Rahman, who was buried in a graveyard in Savar three years ago, to ensure whether he was BNP leader Harris Chowdhury.

The dead body will be exhumed to carry out the test.

The director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police has been instructed to comply with the order.

The HC bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Muhammad Mahbub-Ul-Islam passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by Harris' daughter barrister Samira Tanzim Chowdhury, seeking necessary directives.

Lawyer Mahdin Chowdhury appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the petitioner, while deputy attorney general Redwan Ahmed Runjib and assistant attorney general Muzahedul Islam Shahin represented the state.

Harris Chowdhury served former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia as her political secretary. He was the joint secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Harris had long been a fugitive since the military-backed caretaker government took power in January 2007.

On 11 January 2022, local media ran reports on his death after his cousin Ashiq Chowdhury in a Facebook post claimed the BNP leader passed away at a UK hospital three and a half months ago, and was buried there.

However, quoting his daughter, some media outlets reported that Harris died of post-Covid-19 complications on 03 September 2021 in a Dhaka hospital and was buried in the capital.

The writ has been filed to clear the smokescreen that developed over the death of her father, according to barrister Samira.

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