Maj Gen Manzur Murder: CID submits supplementary charge sheet to Dhaka court

The Criminal Investigation Department has submitted a supplementary charge sheet in Maj Gen Abul Manzur murder case, stating that their further investigation found nothing new.

The investigation officer of the case dropped the names of late Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad and Major Abdul Latif (retd) from the charge sheet as they died earlier. The first investigation had found five accused, including the two, involved in the incident.

Md Kutubuddin, a superintendent of police at CID and also the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the First Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka on Wednesday, a court official told The Daily Star.

The IO named three accused in the supplementary charge sheet. They are: Lt Col Mostafa Kamaluddin Bhuiyan (retd), Lt Col Shamsur Rahman Shams (retd) and Maj Kazi Emdadul Haque (retd).

The trial court will decide on January 25 whether it will accept or refuse the supplementary charge sheet.

Kutubuddin in the charge sheet said he had contacted Manzur's wife and children, who lived abroad, but they refused to give statements to the investigators and before the trial court.

The CID official said he did not find any flaws in the previous investigation.

On February 27, 2014, the trial court ordered further investigation into the murder case after Special Public Prosecutor Asaduzzaman Khan Rochi submitted a petition in this regard during the closing arguments.

"While scrutinising the charge sheet, I found some flaws and incompleteness in the probe…. Although it is a sensational case, names of some key witnesses have been dropped," the prosecutor had told the court.

This newspaper could not reach Asaduzzaman over phone for comments on the supplementary charge sheet.

Abdul Kahar Akand, former CID special superintendent of police, had launched the further investigation. But he later went into retirement and Kutubuddin completed the probe.

This paper tried to reach Kutubuddin for comments, but in vain.

Maj Gen Manzur was killed at Chattogram Cantonment on June 1, 1981, just two days into the assassination of the then president Ziaur Rahman.

The army official, who was the Sector-8 commander during the Liberation War, was believed to have carried out an abortive Chittagong coup in which Zia was killed.

A total of 26 judges have heard the murder case since it was filed on August 28, 1995. The judges were either promoted or transferred to other districts.

The case filed during the then BNP-led government never got the pace for disposal. The trial had begun in 1999 when the Awami League-led government was in power.

But it suddenly got pace in July 2013 after Ershad had refused to extend support to the AL mayoral candidate in the Gazipur City Corporation election.

At that stage, both the prosecution and the defence placed their arguments before the court.

Hearing of the case resumed in November 2013. Upon completion of the hearing on January 22 the following year, the court fixed February 10 for delivering the verdict.

The Dhaka district judge on January 29 transferred Judge Begum Hosne Ara Aktar of the Manzur murder case to another court.