Sheikh Hasina, Her Aides Slapped With 4 New Murder Cases; Ex-B'desh PM Faces 53 Cases

Sheikh Hasina, the chairperson of the Awami League, is currently facing over 53 legal cases, which include 44 murder charges, seven charges related to crimes against humanity and genocide.

At least four more murder cases have been filed against Bangladesh's deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her former cabinet ministers and aides, media reports said on Sunday. A murder case was filed on Sunday against 76-year-old Hasina, former director general of Border Guard of Bangladesh Gen Aziz Ahmed and 11 others over the death of Abdur Rahim, an official of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in 2010, state-run BSS news agency reported.

Rahim, then deputy assistant director (DAD) of former BDR, was an accused in the case lodged over the carnage that took place in Pilkhana in 2010.  He died in jail custody on July 29 of the same year. Rahim's son Advocate Abdul Aziz filed the case with the court of the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Akteruzzaman.

Another murder case was filed on Sunday against Hasina and 48 others for killing a student of the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement on July 18, the agency said.

Victim Shaikh Ashabul Yeamin’s uncle Abdullah-Al Kabir filed a plea to Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Saiful Islam's court Sunday, appealing to lodge a murder case against the 49 accused, it added.

Accepting the petition, the court ordered police to record the statement of the plaintiff and register the complaint as a first information report (FIR).

Awami League general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, among others, have been made accused in the case.

A separate case was filed against Hasina and 27 others over the killing of a seller of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) products in the capital during the recent protests.

Mamunur Rashid, the brother-in-law of victim Md Eusuf Sanowar, filed the complaint with Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saddam Hossain. The court asked the officer in charge of Jatrabari Police Station to accept the matter as a first information report (FIR).

The other prominent accused in the case are - Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and former ministers Anisul Huq and Tajul Islam. Another case was filed against 25 people, including Hasina, over the killing of an auto-rickshaw driver in the capital during the recent protests.

Hasina, the Awami League chairperson, now faces at least 53 cases, including 44 for murders, seven for crimes against humanity and genocide, one for abduction and one for an attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) procession.

Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 after unprecedented anti-government student-led protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs. The Hasina-led government was replaced by an interim government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was named its Chief Adviser.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July