The verdict in the Biswajit killing case will be delivered on Wednesday, a year after the gruesome murder was committed, a Dhaka court said.
Biswajit Das, a 24-year-old shopkeeper, was allegedly chopped to death by some Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists of Jagannath University.The incident took place at Bahadur Shah Park area in Old Dhaka shortly after the explosions on December 9, 2012 during a nationwide road blockade enforced by the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance. The BCL is the student wing of the ruling Awami League,
The killing triggered a huge furore both at home and abroad. Jalal Uddin, a sub-inspector of Sutrapur Police Station, filed a murder case against a group of BCL leaders and activists in connection with the killing on the same day.
Soon after the case was shifted to the Detective Branch of police and inspector Tajul Islam took over the new investigation into the case.
Justice ABM Nizamul Haque of the Dhaka Speedy Tribunal-4 fixed the date of verdict announcement on December 18, after the hearing in the case was completed.
Earlier, all defence counsels, including the state defence lawyer, completed arguments on behalf of 20 other accused in the case. On October 24, the court had completed recording of statements of the prosecution witnesses. The court recorded the statements of 33 out of 60 prosecution witnesses.
Public prosecutor of the tribunal SM Rafiqul Islam told The Independent: “The court already fixed the judgement date on December 18 (today).”
“The prosecution produced proper witnesses in the case and I hope the accused will be punished according to the law,” he said. The trial of the case against 21 accused began on June 14 this year with the deposition of the complainant, sub-inspector Jalal Uddin of Sutrapur Police Station.
Following the investigation, DB Inspector Tajul Islam on March 5 brought the charges against the accused before the court and the accused was indicted on June 2. Of the 21 accused, the detained eight were produced before the court on December 4. The other 13 have been on the run since the incident.
On April 4, the metropolitan magistrate took the charge-sheet into cognizance and issued arrest warrants against the fugitives.
The magistrate rejected a plea for further investigation and ordered the officers-in-charge of respective police stations to submit reports on the execution of arrest warrants on April 17.
On April 29, the case document was transferred from the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court to the Dhaka metropolitan session’s judge’s court for trial.
-With The Independent input
