The plaintiff in the murder case of Inqilab Moncho spokesperson Sharif Osman bin Hadi on Thursday filed a no-confidence petition, rejecting the charge sheet submitted by the Detective Branch (DB) of police.
Inqilab Moncho Member Secretary Abdullah Al Jaber submitted the petition before the court of Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam, confirmed the plaintiff's counsel Mustafizur Rahman Mukul.
Earlier, on January 6, DB Inspector Faisal Ahmed, the investigation officer of the case, submitted a chargesheet against 17 accused. On 12 January, the plaintiff appeared before the court and sought time to review the chargesheet, which the court granted until today. The court had fixed the date to hear arguments on the acceptability of the chargesheet.
According to the charge-sheet, the main accused Faisal Karim Masud alias Daud, his associate Alamgir Hossain, Dhaka North Jubo League organising secretary and former ward councillor Taijul Islam Chowdhury Bappi, Philip Snal Philips, Mukti Akter and Faisal's sister Jasmine Akter are absconding.
The remaining 11 accused are currently in jail. They are Faisal Karim Masud's father Md Humayun Kabir, mother Mosa Hasi Begum, wife Saheda Parveen Samia, girlfriend Maria Akter Lima, brother-in-law Wahid Ahmed Sipu, rent-a-car businessman Mufti Md Nuruzzaman Nomani alias Ujjal, close associate Md Kabir, Sibion Diu, Sanjoy Chisim, Md Aminul Islam alias Raju, and Md Faisal, who was arrested with weapons in Narsingdi.
The investigation officer has sought arrest warrants against the six absconding accused.
During the hearing on the no-confidence petition, lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Mukul argued that the investigation officer had submitted the charge sheet merely as a formality, without conducting a proper and meaningful investigation.
He said the charge sheet failed to explain the link between the main planners of the murder and the shooters who carried it out. "Hadi was not an ordinary person. There must have been a major plan behind his killing. That is why he was shot dead in public, to send a message so that no one dares to speak out against fascism and domination as Hadi did," he told the court.
Mukul further said the charge sheet mentioned the involvement of only a ward councillor from the Awami League, which he described as "laughable." "A ward councillor alone does not have the capacity to carry out such an act. There was certainly a bigger plan behind this murder. That is why we have rejected this charge sheet," he said.
He also criticised the investigation for focusing solely on Faisal, saying the seizure of his cheque was "absurd" and reflected the poor quality of the probe. "What kind of investigation is this? How did the killers manage a safe exit after a daylight murder? How did the planners help the shooters escape? None of this has been mentioned in the charge sheet," he added.
Referring to the victim, Mukul said Sharif Osman Hadi repeatedly spoke about justice and would have demanded justice even if he were killed. "In the interest of justice, we have filed this no-confidence petition," he said.
After the hearing, the court kept its order pending.
According to the case statement, Sharif Osman Hadi formed the political-cultural platform Inqilab Moncho in the post-uprising period and served as its spokesperson. On 12 December at around 2:20pm, assailants on a motorcycle shot him on Box Culvert Road under Paltan Model Police Station, leaving him critically injured with bullet wounds to his head and below his right ear.
He was initially taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and later to Evercare Hospital. As his condition deteriorated, he was flown to Singapore by air ambulance on 15 December for advanced treatment. He died there on 18 December while undergoing treatment.
Following the incident, Abdullah Al Jaber filed an attempted murder case with Paltan Police Station on 14 December, which was later converted into a murder case after Hadi's death.
