Court Correspondent :
The chargesheet in the murder case filed over the murder of LGBT magazine editor Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy was submitted to the court yesterday (Sunday).
The chargesheet against eight persons was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval, said Mohibul Islam, Deputy Commissioner of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
Eight activists of banned militant outfit Ansar Al Islam have been made accused in the charge sheet. They are: Syed Md Ziaul Huq alias Major Zia, 42, who is a sacked army major; Akram Hossain, Sabbirul Haque Chowdhury, 26, Md Zunaed Ahmad alias Maulana Zunaed alias Zunaed, 26; Mozammel Hussain alias Saimon, 25; Md Arafat Rahman, 24; Md Sheikh Abdullah, 27 and Asadullah, 25. Of the accused- Major Zia, Akram, Sabbirul and Zunaid are at large, while the four others were arrested in the case. However, the names of five other accused have been excluded in the chargesheet as their identities and addresses are yet to be known.
Xulhaz, also a former official of USAID, was brutally hacked to death at his Kalabagan residence along with his friend Tonoy by the militants on April 25, 2016.
Later, a case was lodged with Kalabagan Police Station on the same day.
Initially Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) took over the investigation of the double murder incident.
On November 15, 2017, DMP’s CTTC Unit took over the investigation and arrested four persons in connection with the killing.
Interrogation of the arrestees revealed the names of those involved in the planning and execution of the killings and the organisation behind them.
