Maj Gen Abul Manzur murder case: CID submits supplementary charge sheet

Criminal Investigation Department has submitted a supplementary charge sheet in the Maj Gen Abul Manzur murder case where they found nothing new in the further investigation for the last seven years.

In the charge sheet, the investigation officer included three accused and dropped the names of former Jatiya Party Chairman late HM Ershad and Major (retd) Abdul Latif as they died earlier even though they were involved with the incident.

Md Kubuddin, a Superintendent of Police of CID and also the IO of the case, on January 13 submitted the charge sheet to the First Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka, an official of the court confirmed The Daily Star.

The IO included three people who were made accused in the previous charge sheet. He found nothing new in the supplementary charge sheet.

They are: Lt Col (retd) Mostafa Kamaluddin Bhuiyan, Lt Col (retd) Shamsur Rahman Shams and Maj (retd) Kazi Emdadul Haque.

Earlier on February 27 of 2014, the trial court ordered further investigation into the murder after Special Public Prosecutor Asaduzzaman Khan Rochi submitted the petition during the closing arguments.

The case has seen 26 judges since it was filed on August 28, 1995, and the judges were either promoted or transferred to other districts.

The case filed in 1995 during the then BNP-led government has never got the pace for disposal. The trial began in 1999 when the Awami League-led government was in power.

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

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

Hearing of the case resumed in November 2013 and on completion of hearing on January 22 of 2014 the court fixed February 10 the same year 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 replacing Judge Khondker Hasan Md Firoz.

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

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