A Dhaka court yesterday issued arrest warrants against four men, including two police men, on charges of torturing a Bihari man to death in custody last year.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah issued the warrants as the four – Assistant Sub-Inspector Kamruzzaman, ASI Rashedul, and police informants Rasel and Sumon – did not appear before it. The other accused is then sub-inspector Zahidur Rahman Khan of Pallabi police, also main accused in trader Sujan murder case.
The court set May 4 for submission of reports on execution of the warrants.
On August 7 last year, the court ordered judicial inquiry into the death of Istiaq Ahmed Jony after Jony’s brother Imtiaz Hossain Rocky filed a murder case against eight people under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act 2013.
Metropolitan Magistrate Maruf Hossain submitted the report before the court against the five accused on February 17 this year.
According to the case, informant Sumon and Jony got into an altercation over harassing girls at a wedding party at Irani camp in Mirpur in the late hours of February 9 last year. As Jony slapped Sumon, he threatened him with dire consequences. Half an hour later, some 25-26 policemen, including SI Zahid, arrived at the party and vandalised the stage.
They picked up Jony, Rocky and several others and took them to police station where they were tortured. Jony died at National Heart Foundation hospital. Police then claimed that Jony had been killed in a clash between residents of Irani camp and Rahmat camp in Pallabi.
