Court Correspondent
The Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 of Dhaka on Thursday heard the arguments of the prosecution and fixed Sunday to hear the arguments of the defence in the murder case filed in connection with the killing of blogger and also one of Ganajagaran Mancha organizers Ahmed Rajib Haider Shovon.Judge Syeed Ahmed of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 fixed the new date after the prosecution concluded their submissions on Thursday. Earlier, on Tuesday, the seven accused present in the courtroom claimed themselves not guilty in the case. On December 21, the court completed recording the depositions of the prosecution witnesses.
Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, Detective Branch (DB) Police Inspector Nibaran Chandra Barman was the last to testify in the case. A total of 34, including Rajib’s younger brother Engineer Newaz Mortuza Haider, testified in the case.
On March 18 this year, the court of Fourth Additional Metropolitan Session Judge Ruhul Amin framed charges against eight people, including Ansarullah Bangla Team chief Mufti Mohammad Jasimuddin Rahmani.
The other accused are North South University (NSU) students Mohammad Faisal Bin Nayeem Dip of Chowdhurypara, Yasir Mahmud of Kalabagan and Maqsudul Hasan Anik of Keraniganj of Dhaka, Mohammad Ehsan Reza Rumman of Jhenaidah, Nayeem Irad of Brahmanbaria, Nafiz Imtiaj of Chittagong and Redwanul Azad Rana of Feni district.
All of them except Jasimuddin Rahmani were students of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE) and Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering (ETE) departments of NSU.
According to the charge sheet, the students were influenced reading the books and listening to the speeches of Jasimuddin Rahmani. They were consequently inspired to kill ‘atheist’ Rajib. Jasimuddin Rahmani has been indicted as the instigator of the killing.
Blogger and also an architect Ahmed Rajib Haider was stabbed to death in front of his house at the city’s Mirpur Palash Nagar area on February 15 in 2013. His father Dr Nazim Uddin filed the case with Pallabi Police Station in the capital.
