Eighteen people have been indicted for killing 13 people with artillery shells fired during a military putsch on August 15, 1975, in which the country's founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed along with most of his family members.
The artillery shells landed in Dhaka's Mohammadpur area and were fired to create panic while other disgruntled army officers were conducting the killing at the residence of the assassinated leader.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted the charge-sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Thursday after investigating the case for nearly four-and-a-half years in a belated trial process.
The accused are former Lt Colonels Syed Farook Rahman, Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Noor Chowdhury, Sharful Huq Dalim, Abdul Aziz Pasha, Rashed Choudhury, Mohiuddin Ahmed (Artillery), Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan and A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed (Lancer), former majors Bazlul Huda and Ahmed Sharful Hossain, former captains Abdul Majed, Kismat Hashem and Nazmul Hossain Ansar, Risalder Moslemuddin, Dafadar Marfat Ali, L.D. Abul Hashem Mridha and former state minister, Taheruddin Thakur.
All but Ahmed Sharful Hossain, Kismat Hashem, Nazmul Hossain Ansar, Marfat Ali, Abdul Hashem Mridha and Taheruddin Thakur have been sentenced to death in the Bangabandhu murder trial.
In the charge-sheet, 58 people have been named as witnesses in the case. According to the charge-sheet, 13 people, including eight women, were killed and more than 50 injured in the shelling at Sher Shah Suri Road and Shahjahan Road in the Mohammadpur area on the fateful night of August 15, 1975.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed for four weeks the operation of the High Court verdict on the Bangabandhu murder case that confirmed death sentences on 12 former army officers.
Four days after the High Court single-judge bench's verdict on a split judgement, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court issued the order of stay following two provisional stay petitions filed by condemned convicts Lt Col (Retd) Sultan Shahriyar Rashid Khan and Maj. (Retd) Bazlul Huda.
A three-member court of the Appellate Division, presided over by Chief Justice Mahmudul Amin Chowdhury, heard the petitions and gave the four-week stay.
18 charged with killing of 13 during 1975 coup
Eighteen people have been indicted for killing 13 people with artillery shells fired during a military putsch on August 15, 1975, in which the country's founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed along with most of his family members.
