Dhaka: A medical official confessed at a special court about his role in concealing 40 bodies of slain army officers in last year`s BDR mutiny in which 57 Army officers were killed, including BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed.
The 57-year-old Torab Hossain Khan was among 256 members of the BDR hospital unit who are accused in bloody Pilkhana carnage that took place last February.
Yesterday, the mutineers were hauled before a Special Court-6 set up at the Pilkhana headquarters.
Prosecutor of this case Lt Col SMA Al-Muid said 16 of the accused, including medical assistant Torab and JCO (junior commanding officer) Monaranjan Sarker were involved in removing the bodies from the Darbar Hall (meeting room) during the 33-hour mutiny.
Outgoing BDR director general Maj Gen Mainul Islam, who heads the panel of judges, asked Torab how many bodies he had removed.
"We removed the bodies from 2:00pm to 5:00pm (on February 25)," he told the court.
Torab said he didn`t know when the officers were killed when the court asked him about the time. However, he said he had recognised the body of slain former DG Major General Shakil.
Asked by the court if he showed honour to the body, he said, "As a force member I gave salute to his body when I first saw him."
Prosecutor Muid alleged the 16 accused, including Torab and Monaranjan, removed the bodies with a motive to destroy evidence of the killings.
The prosecutor said 80 riflemen including sepoy Saikat Haque were permanently attached to the hospital unit for training. But they did not take any steps to quell the mutiny, rather they left the headquarters on February 26 without permission.
Saikat, who had only around 50 days` service in BDR, said he left the HQ between 8:00 pm and 8:30 pm crossing the boundary wall in civil dress.
The Pilkhana mutiny saw over 70 people killed, 57 of them Army officers deputed to the border force.
On November 15 last year, the government formed six special courts, including two in Dhaka, to try about 3,500 border guards accused in 40 cases around the country.
The six special courts have been trying charges of mutiny, loot and arson.
In the event of a conviction, the maximum penalty for rebellion under the BDR Act is seven years in jail. The Pilkhana murders will be tried separately in civilian courts.
PTI
