Evidence found against Rajshahi man

The investigation agency of International Crimes Tribunal yesterday said to have found evidence against a Rajshahi man over his alleged involvement in crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

Abdus Samad Musa, 61, was “involved” in killings of 15 people, abduction and torture of 21 people and looting and arson in Puthia and Durgapur upazilas of the district, agency's coordinator Abdul Hannan Khan told a press conference at its Dhanmondi office.

Musa, a Jamaat-e-Islami activist and a resident of Puthia, was arrested on January 24 last year and is now in jail.

Hannan said during investigation, they have found involvement of six people in the crimes but all of them except for Musa had died before the probe started.

Later, Faruk Hossain, investigation officer of the case, handed over the probe report, statement of the potential prosecution witnesses and other documents to the Chief Prosecutor Office.

Zahid Imam, conducting prosecutor of the case, said he filed a three-month time petition with the tribunal to scrutinise the documents and if satisfied with those, then they will press charges. Agency's co-coordinator Sanaul Huq said Musa was involved with Muslim League before the war but joined Jamaat and subsequently Razakar Bahini as the war broke out.

Musa went into hiding, most provably in India, after the war but returned to Bangladesh after the political changeover in 1975, Sanaul said.

The senior investigator said Musa tried to hide his original age and even gave false information about the ages of his children in a bid to shrug off the war crimes allegations.

Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 directed its registrar office to publish advertisements in two national dailies asking a fugitive from Khulna to appear before it.

As per the order, Nazrul Islam, one of the seven accused from Batiaghata upazila, has to appear before the tribunal by March 6, said Prosecutor Sabina Yesmin Khan Munni.

Prosecution on November 16 last year pressed four charges against seven persons in a case filed for allegedly committing war crimes. Other six accused -- Shahar Ali, Amzad Hossain Hawlader, Mozahar Ali Sheikh, Atiar Sheikh, Motasim Billah, and Kamal Uddin Goldar -- are in jail.

The charges include killing, abduction, looting, arson and deportation, she said.