Order to record murder case against Sheikh Hasina, six others 

A court in Dhaka has ordered to record a murder case against Sheikh Hasina and six other people over the incident of gunning down a shopkeeper in the capital’s Mohammadpur area. 

Rajesh Chowdhury, magistrate of the chief metropolitan magistrate’s (CMM) court, passed the order around 2:45 pm on Tuesday, instructing the Mohammadpur police station to record the allegations over the murder as a case. 

The other accused are – Awami League general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Habibur Rahman, additional commissioner Harun-Or-Rashid, and joint commissioner Biplab Kumar Sarker. 

Earlier, the plaintiff – SM Amir Hamja – requested the court to accept the case and got his statement recorded around 12:00 pm. The court later passed the order. 

According to the case statement, the police opened fire arbitrarily during the quota reform protests. At one stage, Abu Sayeed was hit by live ammunition at Basila in Mohammadpur on 19 July. 

A total of 580 people have been confirmed to have died during the clashes stemming from the quota reform protests. In the face of a student-led mass uprising, Sheikh Hasina stepped down as the prime minister on 5 August and took shelter in India.