Court accepts charge sheet against SP Babul, 7 others

The court accepted the charge sheet of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) against former police superintendent (SP) Babul Akhter and seven others in the sensational Mahmuda Khanam Mitu murder case.

Following a hearing, Chattogram additional chief metropolitan magistrate Mohammad Abdul Halim passed the order -- a time when the court also issued an arrest warrant against the accused Kamrul Sikder alias Musa and two others who are still at large.

Additional deputy police commissioner (prosecution) of Chattogram metropolitan police Kamrul Hasan told Prothom Alo that PBI submitted the charge sheet to the court on 13 September.     

He also said the court permitted Babul Akhter to talk to his lawyer for an hour. Earlier, he was produced before the court from the Chattogram central prison.  

Mahmuda Khanam Mitu was killed on 5 June 2016 in Chittagong. Miscreants hacked and shot her to death while she was taking her son for school bus in the morning near the GEC intersection in Chattogram city. At that time, her husband Babul Akther was in Dhaka.

After the murder, he filed a case against the unidentified persons at the Panchlaish police station in Chattogram. Now, Babul has been made the prime accused in the case.

According to a probe report of PBI, former police superintendent (SP) Babul Akther planned and financed the murder of her wife, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, for his extramarital affair. The report said he paid Tk 300,000 to a hitman through a source.

The charge sheet has recommended for the acquittal of four people from the lawsuit: Saiful Islam Sikder alias Sakku, Nurunnabi, Md Rashed and Abu Naser. Among them, Nurunnabi and Rashed were killed in a 'gunfight' with police, a few days after Mitu was killed.