A Dhaka court has directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to conduct a further investigation into the murder case of Md Sifat Hossain, 26, who was killed during the July movement in the capital’s Mirpur-10 area, against 26 people including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam passed the order on Monday following a “naraji” (no-confidence) petition submitted by the plaintiff. The court also instructed the PBI to complete the investigation and submit its report by 10 November.
Sub-Inspector (SI) Rafiqul Islam of the Prosecution Department confirmed the court order on Tuesday.
Earlier, on 28 May, SI Mijanur Rahman of Mirpur Model Police Station submitted a charge sheet accusing 26 individuals, including Sheikh Hasina, following the police investigation. However, the victim’s father, Kamal Howlader, filed a naraji petition after two of the accused, Ziaul Haque Zia and Mehedi Hasan, were exempted from the charge sheet.
In his naraji petition submitted on Thursday, the plaintiff alleged that the investigating officer failed to properly take into account the subject matter of the case and did not visit the place of occurrence. The petition further claimed that the investigating officer submitted the charge sheet under the influence of the accused.
Following the petition, the court fixed Monday for the hearing and subsequently directed the PBI to carry out further probe.
Originally, Sifat’s father, Kamal Howlader, filed a case in court on 15 August 2024 against 22 individuals, including Sheikh Hasina. The court instructed Mirpur Model Police Station to record the complaint as a regular case (ejahar).
The named accused in the case include former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former members of parliament (MPs) Kamal Ahmed Majumdar, Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, and Salauddin Mahmud (SM) Zahid, former inspector general of Police (IG) Abdullah Al Mamun, former Detective Branch (DB) chief Harun-or-Rashid, additional joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarkar, DMP commissioner Habibul Rahman, Ziaul Haque Zia, and Mehedi Hasan, among others.
According to the case statement, thousands of students and citizens were protesting as part of the quota reform movement in front of MS Power in the Mirpur-10 area on 20 July 2024 during the July movement. When police opened fire, Sifat was shot while crossing the road to reach a safe place.
He died on the spot after a bullet entered one side of his head and exited through the other.
