Most of intelligence men betrayed
Betrayal of most of the members of Bangladesh Rifles' intelligence wing led to the barbaric carnage at the Pilkhana headquarters in the capital last year, said the commanding officer of the Rifles Security Unit (RSU).
He also alleged that mutineers of his unit played the leading role to dump bodies of the slain army officers into mass graves.
Lt Col Atiquazzaman said these as he was giving statement before the Special Court-6 set up at the Darbar Hall in Pilkhana.
Five to six RSU men led by a havilder major also put leaves and other materials on the mass graves so that no-one could detect those easily, said Atiquazzaman, who is also prosecutor in the case.
Earlier, Nayek Subedar Abdul Matin of the unit filed a case around 11:00am with the court against 113 RSU members for their alleged involvement with the mutiny on February 25-26 last year.
In his submission, the prosecutor compared the betrayal with that of Mir Jafar and Mir Madan against Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah and said the RSU is largely responsible for the 214-year BDR's present consequences.
President of the court BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam cut in on Atiquazzaman and said the betrayal is also similar to that of Razakars in 1971.
The DG asked the RSU commanding officer to rectify his unit so that none can betray in future.
The prosecutor told the court the mutineers took up arms breaking into the arsenals by the time former DG Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed was crossing 24 Rifles Battalion on his way to attend the Darbar.
A pale gloom descended on the courtroom as Lt Col Atiquazzaman started describing how his unit's former commanding officer Lt Col Inshad Ibne Amin and two officers Maj Shahnewaj and Maj Abu Syed Gazzali Dastagir were brutally killed.
He said some mutineers tied Maj Shahnewaj to a tree near the Canteen of Sadar Rifles Battalion and severely tortured him. "He repeatedly begged for life, but Nayek Jahangir, sepoy Hasib and some others did not spare him," he said.
Citing a poem by Maj Dastagir, he said Dastagir took up pen to tell the jawans not to be afraid of death on the frontier. But unfortunately, he was killed at the hands of the jawans.
"When Dastagir's name was uttered, his three-year-old boy Anirban gave a blank look. We cannot give him his father back, but the court can ensure consolation for him by punishing the killers," the prosecutor said.
Seventy-four people including 57 army officials were killed during the February 25-26 mutiny.
The prosecutor also said the RSU jawans distributed leaflets containing provocation among the mutineers which helped spread the mutiny.
Following his submission, the court showed the accused arrested in the case and asked the prosecutor to produce them again on May 8. The court also adjourned the proceedings of the case till 12:15pm Saturday.
Of the accused, 57 have already been detained in connection with the case filed with New Market police earlier, while the rest 56 are still serving in the unit.
SIGNAL SECTOR TRIAL
Earlier in the day, the same court ordered to show 187 accused of the BDR signal sector and produce them before it at 10:00am Saturday.
Nayek Subedar Niamot Ullah Khondoker filed the case against 187 accused mutineers of the sector with the court minutes after it started functioning.
Of the accused, 107 have already been arrested and confined to Dhaka Central Jail in a case filed with New Market police, while the remaining 80 are still serving in the sector.
The complainant of the case placed charges against the accused before the court when prosecutor of the case Lt Col Nazrul Islam Sarkar made a brief submission.
The prosecutor said the accused were in charge of modern communications technology and were supposed to disseminate all information regarding the mutiny to all superior officers but did not carry out their duties.
Rather they shook hands with the mutineers, he added.
The three-member court led by BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam continued the proceedings of the case for nearly one hour starting from 9:30am.
The other members of the court are Lt Col Md Nurul Alam and Maj Ali Mustain Khan.
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