Khoka charged with sedition
Police yesterday pressed charges against BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka, also a former mayor of Dhaka City Corporation, in a sedition case.
Tofail Ahmed, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Paltan Police Station and also investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court.
Twenty-four people have been named as prosecution witnesses.
The court fixed December 14 to decide whether it will take cognisance of the charges.
According to the case, Khoka, now in the US for treatment, on October 14 last year directed his party leaders and activists to demonstrate with machetes and axes in the capital.
Md Shahidullah Pradhan, sub-inspector of Paltan Police Station, filed the case against Khoka on December 7 that year.
Later, police got permission to interrogate the BNP leader at the jail gate in connection with the case.
The leader (former Dhaka city convener of the then main opposition BNP) gave the instruction to his party men at a joint meeting organised at Bhashani Auditorium.
He said: “If the Awami League carries anything to kill people, we have to face them at any cost. They should not be spared.”
On October 21 this year, a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against the BNP leader after he failed to appear before it in a case filed in connection with hurling bombs at the EC secretariat. Moreover, trial of a corruption case against Khoka is also going on in his absence.
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