Two witnesses called against absconding war crimes suspect Zahid Hossain Khokon, alias Khokon Razakar, told the war crimes tribunal yesterday of his alleged involvement in rape and arson in Chandhaat of Faridpur during the 1971 Liberation War.
They placed their depositions regarding the same incident mentioned in charge four.
Rabindranath Dutta, the 10th witness, said when Khokon and some razakars attacked their village he was hiding in a bush. “I saw Khokon taking Radha Rani into the room of Surendranath Dutta. Then I also heard gunshots from the house of Bhuban Mohan Dutta and the house was set afire.”
Then 20-year-old Rabindranath said, after some time, Khokon with his razakar group looted all the houses and torched them. After they had left, all the women of the house broke into tears. “Radha Rani wanted a sari. When she came out of the room, she had a body covered in injury marks. She said she was raped.”
The other witness, Jagannath Dutta from Chandhaat, also said Khokon had raped married and unmarried women of their village. They were unable to tolerate the torture of the accused and his brother Zafar Razakar.
After the depositions, state defence counsel Md Abdus Shukur Khan cross examined the witnesses separately. They denied the counsel’s suggestion that Khokon had not been present during any incident and that he was a freedom fighter.
The prosecution will produce their next witness today.
Meanwhile, the defence counsel submitted a list of 30 witnesses to testify in favour of Khokon Razakar.
The tribunal said they would check whether there is any provision to produce a defence witnesses on behalf of an accused fugitive.
