Narayanganj 7-murder: Journos driven out as witness deposition begins

A Narayanganj court today started recording statements of witnesses in sensational seven-murder case.

Judge Syed Enayet Hossain of Narayanganj District and Sessions Judge’s Court started recording deposition around 10:00am, reports our district correspondent.

Meanwhile, few minutes before the judge took his seat, Public Prosecutor Wajed Ali Khokon told everybody present at the courtroom that as per a court directive none but the complainants, accused, their lawyers and court officials concerned was necessary to remain present at the courtroom, reports our Narayanganj correspondent.

Later, all the journalists present there were driven out.

Earlier in the morning, 23 accused including Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, a former official of Rapid Action Battalion, were produced before the court.

The court was scheduled to start recording witnesses’ statements on February 25 but it failed as Tareque was not produced before the court.

Following this, the court asked the jail authorities to explain Tareque's absence, adjourned the court proceedings for half an hour and ordered the public prosecutor to find out why he was not in the court.

Tareque was the commanding officer of Rab-11 in Narayanganj at the time of the crime. He and two other Rab officials were sacked after their alleged involvement in the crime surfaced.

Tareque is currently at Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was admitted with “back pain” on January 3. He is undergoing “treatment” there at the neurosurgery department.

On April 27, 2014, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and his three aides -- Tajul, Liton and Swapan -- and driver Jahangir were kidnapped allegedly by a Rab-11 team. Senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and his driver Ibrahim were also picked up around the same time, as they witnessed the abduction of Nazrul and his men. Later, all the seven bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river.

Days after the murder, Nazrul's father-in-law Shahidul Islam alleged that some officials of Rab-11 killed Nazrul in exchange for Tk 6 crore from Nur Hossain, Nazrul's political rival.

Two cases were filed in this connection -- one by Nazrul's family and the other by Chandan's family.

Detectives pressed charges against 35 people in each case. Of them, 23 accused, including the three sacked Rab officials, are now in jail. Twelve others, eight of them Rab men, are on the run.