Not only copy of the draft verdict, but also every order that the International Crimes Tribunal 1 had passed in the trial against Salauddin Quader Chowdhury were stolen from the computer of the tribunal chairman by Nayan Ali, one of the cleaners, for Tk50,000.
Death row convict Salauddin Quader’s counsels coordinated the whole process upon concern of his family members, says the charge sheet submitted to a Dhaka court last month.
Defence counsel AKM Fakhrul Islam’s assistant Mehedi Hassan contacted one of the employees of the tribunal Faruk Hossain and offered that he would be given Tk50,000 by the family if he could manage documents of the case, it says.
The charge sheet includes statements of Faruk and Nayan. In the beginning, Faruk worked as a coordinator between Nayan and the counsels. Later Nayan himself started communicating directly with them for more benefits.
The Dhaka Cyber Tribunal on October 13 issued arrest warrants against the fugitive wife and son of the convicted war criminal, and Mehedi. The four others accused in the case are Salauddin Quader’s Manager Mahbubul Ahsan, Fakhrul, Nayan and Faruk.
The court also asked police to submit a report on the execution of the order on October 30.
The charge sheet states that Nayan started giving Mehedi the copy of the draft verdict and every other document of the case since September 28 last year.
Three days later, the tribunal sentenced the BNP leader to death for the crimes against humanity he had committed in Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War.
When Nayan was scared and pleaded to Mehedi that he did not want to steal documents any more, Mehedi had forced him to continue working for them.
In his statement, Nayan said when he told Mehedi that the files on his pen drive had been password protected, Mehedi replied that they would unlock the files with the help of computer experts.
According to the charge sheet, the accused leaked parts of the draft verdict by uploading it on websites to make the war crimes trial controversial. On the verdict day, Salauddin Quader and his family members also made comments on the trial process and the tribunal.
After the verdict, BNP chief’s Adviser Khandaker Mahbub Hossain threatened to try all the people involved with the trial process if his party came to power.
Detective Branch of Police filed the case on November 5 against Mehedi, Faruk, Nayan and several others unnamed. The law enforcers also raided Fakkrul’s chamber and seized various documents related to the leak.