Cop Akram, 11 others acquitted

The High Court yesterday acquitted former assistant commissioner (AC) of police Akram Hossain and 11 others in the sensational BBA student Shamim Reza Rubel murder case of 1998.
An HC bench of Justice AKM Fazlur Rahman and Justice Muhammad Abdul Hafiz came up with the verdict after granting 13 petitions the accused filed in 2002 challenging the trial court's decision in this case.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court in June 2002 sentenced 13 accused including AC Akram to life-term rigorous imprisonment and Mukuli Begum, a neighbour of Rubel and another accused of the case, to one year in prison.
In yesterday's order, the life imprisonment of then sub-inspector of police Hayatul Islam was also commuted to 10 years.
Shamim Reza Rubel, 24, a student of Independent University, was picked up by a team of detective branch (DB) of police led by AC Akram near Rubel's Siddheswari residence in the capital on July 23, 1998.
DB police picked him up on charges of addiction and committing nuisance, said Akram's lawyer advocate Anisul Huq.
The same day Rubel was tortured to death in the DB custody.
Abdur Rob Miah, father of Rubel, the following day filed a murder case with Ramna Police Station accusing 14 people including AC Akram Hossain and Roksana Begum alias Mukuli Begum.
Anisul Huq yesterday said there is no bar to his client's release from jail now.
Akram is in jail for about 13 years in this case. He was arrested immediately after the case was filed, said Anisul. Akram was released on bail for three months in 2002, but he was sent to jail after the Appellate Division cancelled his bail.
The lawyer said all other accused of the case are now on bail.