Staff Reporter :
The Supreme Court [SC] has directed the Criminal Investigation Department [CID] not to continue the investigation of sensational Narayanganj seven- murder case anymore.
The decision of the country’s apex court came following a plea from the state.
Although a full bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain took the decision on Monday, it came to the light on Tuesday through different channel.
“A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice, ordered the CID to discontinue the probe. The order was given, as a lawsuit cannot be probed simultaneously by two government agencies. It makes the case more complex,” Attorney
General [AG] Mahbubey Alam said yesterday.
The state prosecution earlier filed a petition with the High Court [HC] for withdrawing the CID from the investigation. But the HC rejected the plea by bringing a minor change in its order given on July 10. It had asked the CID to conduct ‘inquiry’ instead of ‘investigation’.
In this backdrop, the prosecution filed appeal with the SC against the HC order on Wednesday last.
AG Mahbubey Alam was the chief prosecutor on behalf of the state while Deputy Attorney General ASM Nazmul Hoque assisted him.
“The Appellate Division has given the order by disposing two of our appeals. There were some observations about the Attorney General’s Office in the judgement of HC. But the Appellate Division expunged the HC’s observations in their verdict,” ASM Nazmul Hoque said elaborating the case.
It is to be noted that a HC bench, after the Naraynaganj seven-murder, willingly had issued a directive to CID to conduct an investigation, though the DB at that time had been conducting the same investigation.
The HC bench in their ruling said the DB would conduct ‘key investigation’ while the CID would run ‘shadow investigation.’
At the same time, as per the HC bench directives, a high-powered seven-member general inquiry committee headed by Additional Secretary of Public Administration Ministry Shahajahan Ali Mollah was formed to conduct investigation into the same matter.
The HC had asked the general committee to find out through ‘mass hearing’ whether there was any involvement, or any negligence, of any law enforcing agency members in the gruesome killings.
The probe committee submitted a separate report [on its progress] to the HC on Monday.
Apart from it, the Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] also submitted its separate investigation report to the HC on Tuesday.
Earlier, the HC cautioned RAB when its internal departmental investigation [about involvement of its members] took a turn to the ‘main investigation’.
Meanwhile, the court has fixed next Thursday for the hearing over the issue.
“We have asked the HC to grant four more weeks to complete the investigations. Hope, we can submit the full report, if we are granted the time,” Mizanur Rahman Khan, member of the inquiry committee, said.
He said the committee has so far taken interview of 374 people in the meantime. ” We are now coordinating their statements,” he said.
The inquiry committee also recorded statement of RAB DG Mokhlesur Rahman after his denial about the involvement of RAB headquarters, particularly his second-in-command Colonel Ziaul Ahsan, who is Additional DG of RAB, in the killing.
According to confessional statement of Tareq Sayeed, Col. Zia had issued the arrest order in March to Lt. Col. Tareq Sayeed Mohammed, and Councillor Nazrul was killed after abduction in April next.
Another accused, former Deputy CO of RAB-11 Major Arif Hossain in his confessional statement said that Col. Tareq had ordered the ‘removal’ of seven persons. Nur Hossain, another NCC councillor, who had provided the RAB men with detailed information about Nazrul, was also in the killers’ hit list.
Major Arif in his confessional statement said Col. Zia had ordered to kill informant Nur Hossain too.
Lt Col Tareque and Major Arif Hossain were among 26 arrested in connection with the seven-murder. Of them, 14 arrestees including Sayeed and Arif, have given confessional statements admitting their roles in the seven-murder.
At present, the Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division of police has been investigating the case.
A total of seven people, including Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam and local senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar, were abducted from Dhaka-Narayanganj link road on April 27.
Six of the bodies were recovered from the Shitalakhya River on April 30 and the remaining one on the following day.
