A Dhaka court on Monday indicted 60 people in connection with the killing of six students in the capital’s Aminbazar area about two years ago.
Second Additional District and Session’s Judge Md Helal Uddin brought murder charges against the accused.
Among them, five are in police custody, 30 are out on bail and the remaining 25 have absconded.
The court issued warrants against the fugitives.
Forty of the accused were charged with murder according to penal code 301/34/201, and the remaining 20 were charged with attempted murder under penal code 326/307.
The court turned down 29 discharge petitions from the defence lawyer Sanaul Islam.
It also set August 25 for the next hearing of the case.
On January 13, the investigation officer of the case, Additional Police Superintendent Sharif Uddin Ahamed of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), pressed charges against 60 people in connection with the killing of the six students.
On January 16, the court took cognisance of the charge-sheet.
Earlier, Abdul Hamid (one of the accused) and 12 others gave confessional statements before a magistrate, admitting their complicity in the murders under article 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
The sensational murders took place in the early hours of July 18, 2011, when a mob at Bardeshi village in Aminbazar lynched six college and school students, allegedly mistaking them for robbers. Another student was injured critically.
Police presence on the scene during the incident was reported.
The following day, Sub-Inspector Md Anowar Hossain of Savar police station filed a murder case against 500-600 unnamed people from Bardeshi village.
The dead students are Tipu Sultan of Tejgaon College; Towhidur Rahman Palash, Kamruzzaman Kanto and Ibrahim Khalil of Mirpur Bangla College; Shams Rahim Shamam of Maple Leaf International School; and Sitaf Jabi Munif of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology.