Sylhet mayor united in Kibria murder case

Three BNP leaders, including Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury, have been implicated in former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria murder case.

The two other leaders are BNP chief Khaleda Zia's former political adviser Harris Chowdhury and Habiganj district unit BNP General Secretary GS Gaus. 

A Dhaka court earlier framed charges against Harris Chowdhury in Zia Orphanage Trust case and Zia Charitable Trust case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission. 

Earlier in the day, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Assistant Police Super Meherunnesa Khanum placed a supplementary charge sheet of the murder case before Habiganj Sadar court of Judge Rokeya Khatun. 

Thirty five people, including Ariful Haque Chowdhury, were made accused in the supplementary charge sheet of the murder case.  ASP Meherunnesa Khanum told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have submitted the supplementary charge sheet against 35 people. Of them, 11 were newly added.”  Kibria was assassinated on January 27, 2005 in a grenade attack in Habiganj. Later, Sylhet district Awami League (AL) leader Advocate Abdul Mazid Khan filed a murder case in this connection. 

Rafiqul Islam of CID, who has been assigned to lead an additional probe in the case, has identified at least 11 Huji operatives, including Mufti Hannan, to be involved in the attack. 

The ten others are former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu's brother Moulana Tajuddin, Mizan, Mithu, Abu Zandal, Hannan's younger brother Mohibullah Ovi, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul, Naim Ahmed Arif alias Limu, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye and Ahsanullah Kajal.  Of the 11, Kajal died in India in 2006, while Shafiqur, Hye and Tajuddin are still at large and the rest are behind bars.