A Chittagong court yesterday acquitted expelled Jubo League leader and listed criminal Helal Akbar Chowdhury Babar and nine others of the murder of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist Azad Ali Khan in Chittagong in 1996.
The Home Ministry last year pleaded to have the case withdrawn for political considerations, but the tribunal twice rejected the pleas. Ultimately all of the accused were acquitted, Ayub Khan, prosecutor at the tribunal, said.
Judge Reza Tarique Ahmed of the Speedy Trial Tribunal passed the order in the presence of four of the accused, Babar, Surjit Barua, Iftekhar and Habibur Rahman.
Six of the accused in the case have been on the run, court sources said.
The six who have now been acquitted are Utpol Kumar Chowdhury, Mohammad Jaforullah, Mohammad Shahnewaj, Humayun Kabir, Sunil Dey and Mafijur Rahman Dulu, sources said.
Because the first enlisted suspect in the First Information Report, Akbar Ali had died, his name was erased from the trial.
The judge read out the short form of the verdict of the case saying the accused were acquitted because the charges against them were not proved.
“None of the prosecution witnesses mentioned any of the names of the accused during their depositions. That is why all of the accused were released,” he said.
According to case documents, several Jubo League men opened fire on a JCD procession in front of the Forest Office at Nandankanon in the port city on April 9, 1996, as the procession was headed for the city’s Outer Stadium to take part in a rally of Khaleda Zia.
JCD man Azad Ali Khan was shot dead and his brother Mohammad Selim lodged a case with Kotwali police station on April 14, 1996 accusing 11 persons including Babar.
