Tribunal asks for probe report Apr 5

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday asked the prosecution to submit an investigation report, if any, on April 5 over the allegations of crimes committed by four Moulvibazar men during the Liberation War.

The tribunal fixed the date after Prosecutor Sheikh Mosfeq Kabir submitted a progress report on the investigation in the case and prayed for four weeks' time to submit the report.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The accused are Razakar suspects Akmal Ali Talukdar, 73, Abdun Nur Talukdar, 62, Anis Mia, 76, and  Abdul Mosabber Mia, 64, of Rajnagar upazila in Moulvibazar. Of the four, Akmal was arrested at his Panchgaon village residence in Rajnagar on November 26 last year, hours after the tribunal ordered the arrest of the four. The rest are still on the run. Meanwhile, Akmal's lawyer Abdus Sobhan Tarafder filed a petition seeking bail for his client. The tribunal fixed April 16 for hearing the petition.

According to the investigation agency, the probe into the case started on October 12, 2014, and the investigation officer has already found evidence of the involvement of the four in "Panchgaon Genocide", where at least 59 Hindu men were slain, and in the killing of two other men in 1971.

JESSORE

Meanwhile, the tribunal recorded the testimony of Liakat Ali Sheikh, the seventh prosecution witness in the case against nine Jessore men, including former Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP lawmaker Shakhawat Hossain.

Liakat, a freedom fighter from Mahadebpur village in Keshabpur upazila in the district, said he learnt from his uncle Miran Sheikh that Shakhawat, Aziz Sardar, Aziz Sardar (2), Abdul Khaleq, Lutfar Morol, and Ibrahim Hossain had confined and tortured him at a Razakar camp in Jessore.

Miran, as the sixth prosecution in the case, gave a vivid description of the incident on Wednesday.

The three others are Kazi Ohidul Islam, Mujibur Rahman and Billal Hossain. The nine face five charges. Of them, Shakhawat, Billal and Lutfar are now in jail and have pleaded not guilty. The rest are on the run.

Liakat also said Aziz, Aziz (2), Ibrahim, Khaleq, and Lutfar had also abducted his father Zohar Ali Sheikh and took him to a Razakar camp. His father, however, was released later. The tribunal adjourned the proceeding until March 7 after the defence completed his cross-examination.