Kibria murder trial starts

A Sylhet speedy trial tribunal has indicted 32 persons included three top BNP leaders for the murder of Awami League leader and former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria. They include former minister of state for home Lutfozzaman Babar, Khaleda Zia’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury and former Sylhet mayor Ariful Haq Chowdhury. Special Public Prosecutor Kishore Kumar Kar said that Judge Maqbul Ahsan has ordered on Sunday for the trial in the murder case to begin. Fourteen of the accused who were behind bars and eight who are out on bail were present when the judge gave the order. Kibria, finance minister in Awami League’s 1996-2001 government, and four others were killed in a grenade attack on January 27, 2005, while he was returning to Habiganj after a rally. The then general secretary of the Habiganj Awami League unit, Abdul Majid Khan had filed two cases over the attacks – one over the killings and the other over the explosions – that very night. CID official Munshi Atiqur Rahman, the first investigating officer, pressed charges against 10 people on March 20 the same year. The plaintiff objected to it the following year. During the 2007-2008 emergency government, the High Court ordered further investigation into the case. On June 20, 2011, investigation officer ASP Rafiqul Islam accused 14 people, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami’s Bangladesh leader Mufti Hannan, in the chargesheet he submitted on June 20, 2011. But Kibria’s wife filed an objection to it eight days later at the Habiganj court. In January the following year, Sylhet’s Speedy Trial Tribunal accepted the objection and ordered ASP Meherun Nesa Parul to conduct further investigation. Parul, the third investigation officer, charged 11 others in a supplementary chargesheet in December last year. Those newly accused included BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, Sylhet Mayor Ariful Haq Chowdhury and Habiganj Municipal Mayor Golam Kibria Gaus, according to bdnews24.com.
- biplab