Rony charged

Detectives yesterday pressed murder charges against Bakhtiar Alam Rony, son of an Awami League lawmaker, for shooting dead two persons in the capital on April 15.

The name of Rony's driver Imran Fakir was dropped from the charge sheet as his involvement in the killing was not found.

Sub-inspector of the Detective Branch of Police Dipak Kumar Das, also investigation officer in the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka.

He prayed to the court to relieve Imran of the charges and consider his confessional statement as testimony.

The court will give its decision on August 13 if it will accept the charges. If the charges are accepted and proved, Rony might face capital punishment.

Rony, son of AL lawmaker and acting Mohila AL general secretary Pinu Khan, fired random shots in the air from his sport utility vehicle for “being frustrated over post-midnight traffic” on April 15, leaving a rickshaw puller and an auto-rickshaw driver dead on New Eskaton Road.

The incident didn't draw much attention at first. But as the media ran reports on Rony's involvement in the incident, it created a huge public outcry.

The victims' families were doubtful about getting justice. They thought that Rony would get favour from the police for being the son of a ruling party lawmaker.

Police, however, refuted allegations of any favouritism all along, and submitted the charge sheet yesterday, around three months after the incident.

“We thought that he [Rony] might not face trial, as he is son of a lawmaker. But the media stood by us and now I am hopeful that we will get justice,” said Salma Akhter, wife of deceased auto-rickshaw driver Yakub Ali.

“I will not get my husband back, but I want justice,” Salma told The Daily Star over the phone in an emotion-chocked voice.

According to the charge sheet, Rony along with his friends Kamal Mahmud, Jahangir Alam Bhuiyan and Mohammad Kamal drank alcohol and beer worth Tk 95,000 at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital till the small hours of April 15.

They left the hotel around 1:30am and went to Moghbazar by R                ony's sport utility vehicle to drop Jahangir. As they were returning, the vehicle got stuck in traffic jam in front of the LMG Tower on New Eskaton Road for four to five minutes, read the charge sheet.

Rony, who was smoking at that time, lowered the window of the vehicle and fired four to five shots at random, hitting rickshaw-puller Abdul Hakim and auto-rickshaw driver Yakub Ali. The two later died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The vehicle sped away immediately after the incident. Rony went to his Dhanmondi home after dropping Kamal Mahmud at Eskaton Plaza and Mohammad Kamal at Hatirpool.

Hakim's mother Monowara Begum filed a murder case with Ramna Police Station on April 15 against some unidentified persons.

Ramna police then started a probe and collected footage of the close circuit camera installed at the nearby Janakantha Office. In the footage, they found suspicious movement of a black sport utility vehicle in the area in the small hours of April 15.

Later, police identified the vehicle owner with the help of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.

The murder case was transferred to the DB police on May 25, and the detectives arrested Rony and Imran on May 31.

Later, Rony's three friends, who were with him in the vehicle, gave judicial statements as witnesses, while Rony's driver Imran gave a confessional statement to magistrates. They said Rony had fired four to five shots that hit the victims.

Ballistics tests confirmed that the bullet found in the body of auto-rickshaw driver Yakub was fired from Rony's licensed gun. On July 6, the DB police requested the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner to cancel Rony's arms licence.

Rony has been remanded thrice in the case for 10 days. He didn't give any confessional statement.

“Though he [Rony] didn't give a confessional statement, we have found circumstantial evidence and three eyewitnesses which are enough to prove the charges,” Dipak told reporters after submitting the charge sheet.

A total of 37 people, including Imran, were made prosecution witnesses in the charge sheet, he added.