All accused acquitted 16yrs after murder of Titas employee

All the 33 accused in Billal Hossain Bepary murder case, an employee of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd, were acquitted yesterday as the prosecution failed to prove the charges brought against them.
Judge KM Rasheduzzaman Raja of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka, gave the judgement.
Following an internal feud, a group of unruly officials and employees of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd threw Billal from the sixth floor of its principal office at Karwan Bazar in the city that resulted in his death on July 9, 1992, the prosecution mentioned.
Those acquitted of the charges are Faruque Hassan Joardar, Latif Hassan, Abdur Rahman, Shafiuddin Ahmed, Abdul Motaleb, Ishrafil Alam, Nurul Haque, Akhterul Islam, Jakir Hossain Khan, Shamsul Haque, Kazi Abdul Hannan, Shahinur Hossain, Lutfor Rahman, Raisul Kabir, Abul Kalam Bhuiyan, Omar Faruque, Kaisar Ali, Jakir Hossain, Motiur Rahman, Ratan Basu, Sarwar Haidar, Kamrul Islam, Sekandar Ali, Asad Ali Khondaker, Bashir Mondal, Fayez Ahmed, Kazimuddin, Farid Uddin, MA Hakim, Abdur Rashid, Asafuddowla Tutul and Abdul Hye.
In his judgement, the judge mentioned that the prosecution failed to prove the charges brought against the accused. Moreover, victim's father-in-law Habibur Rahman was an employee of Titas Gas but he did not file any case against the accused.
“A magistrate was on duty on the spot during a clash between the two groups, but he was not included in the charge sheet and produced before the court for giving his statements during the trial of the case,” the judge said.
He said, “Even though the complainant mentioned that the victim was tortured, the autopsy report said there were no injury marks on his body.”
A trade union leader, SM Zillur Rahman, filed the case against the accused.
Earlier, the prosecution and the defence had completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 22 prosecution witnesses.
Advocate Syed Mizanur Rahman appeared for the state while Advocates Haji Nazrul Islam, AFM Abdul Wadud and Munzur Alam for the accused.