Hearing in Farukh murder postponed again due to prime accused's illness

The hearing in freedom fighter Farukh Ahmed murder case has been postponed due to the illness of its prime accused, Ghatail 3 constituency MP Amanur Rahman Khan Rana. Officials of Gazipur's Kashimpur Jail on Monday informed Tangail Additional District and Sessions Judge Abul Monsur Miah that Rana was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital over various health complications and could not be produced before the court for the hearing on that day. In response, the judge fixed the next date of the hearing on February 11. This is the fifth time the hearing has been postponed. Seven people accused in the murder case are still absconding. Four, including MP Rana, are in jail, while three others have been released on bail. Rana surrendered before a court on September 18 last year after being on the run for 22 months. A court rejected his bail petition and sent him to jail. He is currently in Kashimpur Jail. Tangail Awami League leader and freedom fighter Farukh was found with bullet injuries near his house in College Para on January 18, 2013. He was declared dead by the duty doctor at Tangail General Hospital on the same day. His wife Nahar Ahmed filed a case with Tangail police station three days later. During the primary investigation, the Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested MP Rana's close aide Anisur Rahman Raja on August 11, 2014. Raja gave a confessional statement before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shahadat Hossain on August 27. Another accused in the case, Mohammed Ali, was arrested on August 24, 2014 and gave a confessional statement before Senior Judicial Magistrate Nazmun Nahar on September 5. In his confessional statement, Mohammad Ali mentioned the names of president of Chambers and Commerce in Tangail, Jahidur Rahman Khan Kakon, and former mayor of Tangail municipality Shahidur Rahman Khan Mukti as co-conspirators in the murder. Both of them are brothers of Rana. The DB submitted the charge sheet of the murder case last year, accusing Rana, his three brothers and 14 others.