A Dhaka court has ordered reinvestigation into the 1981 murder of Maj Gen Md Abul Manzur following a plea by the state.
Dhaka’s First Additional District and Sessions Judge Khandaker Hasan Mahmud Firoz gave the order on Thursday.
The CID has been ordered to reinvestigate the murder going back over 30 years and submit a report on Apr 22.
The prime accused in the case is former military dictator and Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad, who is now the special envoy of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Ershad was present at the court on Thursday.
Apart from him, the four other accused are Maj (retd) Kazi Emdadul Haque, Lt Col (retd) Mostafa Kamaluddin Bhuiyan, Lt Col (retd) Shamsur Rahman Shams and Maj Gen (retd) Abdul Latif.
Thursday’s order further delays the verdict in the case, which was scheduled to have been delivered on Feb 10 but was deferred after Judge Firoz replaced the previous Judge Hosney Ara Aktar.
The new judge had set Feb 27 for fresh hearing for the arguments in the case.
State counsel Asaduzzaman Khan Rochi on Thursday pleaded for reinvestigation in order to include several important witnesses in the charge-sheet.
Ershad’s lawyer Sheikh Sirajul Islam opposed his plea and said it was only a ploy to delay the verdict.
All the accused including Ershad are out on bail given by the High Court. Legal proceedings against Lt Col Shams and Maj Gen (retd) Latif have been stopped by the High Court.
Manzur, who was then commander of Chittagong garrison, was implicated in the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman on May 30, 1981.
His brother Barrister Abul Mansur filed the case with Panchlaish Police Station in Chittagong on Feb 28, 1995, 14 years after he was reportedly murdered in Chittagong cantonment.
He was taken there from the local police station where he was brought after surrendering at a forest in Fatikchharhi.
Source: Bd news24