CJ Sinha: Big fishes were involved in Bangabandhu assassination

Many influential people who were involved in the conspiracy behind Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s assassination have managed to get away with their crimes due to a flawed investigation, says Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha. “I found out about their involvement while going through the case documents. But they could not be tried because of the errors in the probe,” he said on Tuesday. “However, we did clearly say in our verdict that it was a criminal conspiracy, premeditated murder and ordered to put them on trial.” The Chief Justice’s remarks came at a voluntary blood donation programme at the Supreme Court premises on the occasion of the National Mourning Day. He added, “There was a major conspiracy in play in this case. I was a youngest judge in the Appellate Division at that time.” The Chief Justice said he was undergoing cancer treatment in Singapore when he was asked to return home immediately and join the bench that would take on this sensational case. “There were some problems going on with the bench’s formation. Then I was told to come back and join the bench. I had no idea at the time whether I would live. However, I postponed the treatment and returned home. I went back to Singapore for further treatment after taking oath,” he said. Twelve former army officers were sentenced to death in 1998, and the Supreme Court upheld that verdict in 2009. After trials, five of the killers were executed in January 2010 while another one, on the run, died of natural causes in Zimbabwe. Six others are still hiding abroad. The nation in paying homage to Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed along with most of his family members at his Dhanmondi-32 residence on this day in 1975 by a group of rogue army men. Bangabandhu’s daughters Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana had survived as they were abroad at that time. The day is being observed as the National Mourning Day. Chief Justice Sinha said, “Today is one of the darkest days in our history. The killers had tried to erase the architect of the country’s independence from the history.” “Bangabandhu’s assassination was an act of cowardice. Bangabandhu might have had enemies, but his four-year-old son Russel, who was not even in politics, and other family members were killed because they wanted to eliminate the whole bloodline.” He said these killings were ‘unprecedented in the world’s history’. “What’s more painful for me is that the state had formulated a law to obstruct the trials of the killers. “But, as a member of the judiciary, I feel proud that the Supreme Court cleared the way for holding the trial by scrapping the indemnity ordinance,” he said.