Bangabandhu’s killer Rashed Chy to be brought back: Law minister

Law Minister Anisul Huq today said that Rashed Chowdhury, a fugitive killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will be brought back to the country from the US.

The minister said this while addressing a programme organised to mark the National Mourning Day at Akhaura Railway Station premises in Brahmanbaria this morning.

“Two of the six fugitive killers of Bangabandhu are residing in the US and Canada. We would bring back the one living in the US. Legal steps are on to bring back the one in Canada as well,” Anisul Huq said.

“Steps are on to trace the whereabouts of the four other fugitive killers,” he said.

“No matter where they are hiding, they would be extradited to the country and would be brought to justice,” the minister also said.

“After the assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975, conspiration was on to turn Bangladesh into a mini Pakistan,” Anisul Huq said, adding “the plot was almost implemented.”

“It was after the Awami League government under leadership of Sheikh Hasina took power in 1996 that the fate of the country began to change for the better,” he added.

Akhaura upazila unit of Awami League organised the programme to observe the 44th death anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Supreme Court on November 19, 2009 upheld a High Court verdict, confirming capital punishment of 12 people, including the six, for killing Bangabandhu and most of his family members in a coup d’état on August 15, 1975.

Five of the convicts -- Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed -- were executed on January 27, 2010. Another killer, Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe in 2001.

Those who remain fugitives are Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Maj (retd) Noor Chowdhury, Maj (retd) Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Majed and Risaldar Moslehuddin Khan.

The extradition of the six fugitive killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman saw little progress even a decade after trial proceedings of the assassination case were completed.

A taskforce comprised of ministers and high officials of the foreign, law and home ministries was formed in 2010 to locate and bring back the six.

The government had also made global appeals in bilateral, regional and international forums to track down the culprits. However, only two of the six could be traced -- Rashed Chowdhury in the US and Noor Chowdhury in Canada.