A Dhaka court Wednesday recorded the deposition of Rafiqul Islam, secretary of Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, as a witness in the Humayun Azad murder case.
The prosecution has so far produced 13 witnesses. The defence did not cross-examine Rafiqul Islam.
Rafiqul told the court in his deposition that during the incident he was at TSC intersection. Suddenly he heard some noises and he went towards Bangla Academy, where he saw Humayun Azad lying on the roadside opposite the Academy in a seriously injured condition.
He did not see anyone else.
After recording his deposition, the Dhaka fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge AHM Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan fixed June 24 for hearing the rest of the prosecution witnesses.
Earlier on April 25 the court recorded the deposition of poet Rafique Azad and five others in the case.
The other five were Habibullah Siraji, Azad’s son Ananno Azad, Azad’s brother M Sazzad Kabir, photojournalist Iftekhar Uddin Ahmed Pavel and rickshaw puller Saifur Rahman.
Police produced four of the five accused in the case before the court Wednesday.
On the evening of February 27, 2004, Azad was returning home on foot from the Ekushey Book Fair when he was stabbed by a group of assailants on the footpath opposite the Bangla Academy premises.
He somewhat recovered from the trauma of the attack and was living in Munich where he was found dead on August 12, 2004. An autopsy report said he died of cardiac arrest.
CID inspector Mohammad Lutfor Rahman submitted two charge sheets to a Dhaka court saying that the attack had ultimately caused his death.
On September 10, 2012, more than eight years after the attack, charges were framed against Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Minhaz, Anwarul Alam, Nur Mohammad Shamim, Salehin and Hafez Mahmud, all members of the banned terrorist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.
Among the accused, Nur Mohammad is absconding.
