Court Correspondent: The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka on Sunday evening ordered police to search the Gulshan office of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. Metropolitan Magistrate SM Masud Zaman of the CMM Court issued the order in a case filed with Gulshan Police Station in the capital under the Explosive Substances Act. The number of the case is 25(2)(15) and the other thirteen accused persons of the case are: BNP Vice-Chairmen Selima Rahman and Hafizuddin Ahmed, Joint-Secretary General Salah Uddin Ahmed, BNP Chairperson’s Special Assistant Advocate Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, BNP Chief’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, Supreme Court Bar Association President Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Mohila Dal Secretary General Shirin Sultana, Humayun Kabir, MA Qaiyun, Dewan Salauddin, Mostafa, Mamun and Manik. Gulshan Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge (OC) Feroz Kabir earlier submitted an appeal to the CMM Court for searching the office of the BNP Chief. He has informed the court that Khaleda Zia and other accused are hiding in the office, and explosives or other such articles might have been stored there for destructive use. In the circumstances he thought necessary and appealed to search the office. Meanwhile, Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain while talking to the media in his chamber in the evening demanded assurance about the presence of lawyers during the search of BNP Chief’s office by the police and they should also be kept there to witness the searching of the police. Khandaker Mahbub, who is also an adviser of Begum Khaleda Zia, categorically said, “As per the Criminal Procedure Code, before conducting a search in any place, the bodies of the concerned police personnel shall have to be searched by impartial men’. Besides this, Sanaullah Miah, a counsel for the BNP Chief, said an Executive Magistrate usually issues such order. “The CMM Court has no authority to issue the search warrant.”
