Bangladesh
Ershad-Manzoor Ershad's name dropped from murder case of Major Manzoor
Dhaka, January 16: Former President Hussein Mohammad Ershad's name has been dropped from the chargesheet in the much-discussed murder case of Major General Abul Manzoor after four decades. The name of another accused Abdul Latif has also been dropped. On Tuesday (January 12th), the CID filed a petition seeking their "acquittal of the cause of death" the state's attorney general said.
Investigation, re-investigation, chargesheet-supplementary chargesheet Thus, the trial of the much-discussed murder case of Major General Abul Manzoor has passed four decades. Although the verdict date of the case was fixed several times, it got stuck in various legal complications.
Four decades later, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police filed a supplementary chargesheet in the case again. The chargesheet seeks to remove Jatiya Party chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad and retired Major General Abdul Latif as accused in the case. On January 12, the agency filed a chargesheet in the First Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court in Dhaka. Prosecutor Asaduzzaman Khan said the two accused had been dropped from the chargesheet due to their deaths. He said a hearing was scheduled for January 25.
On 30 May 1971, Major General Abul Manzoor was shot dead by a group of misguided army members of the then President Ziaur Rahman in Chittagong. At that time Abul Manzur was the General Officer Staff of the 24th Infantry Division of the Army at Chittagong. After the death of Ziaur Rahman, the police arrested Manzoor who was in hiding. He was later taken from police custody to the cantonment and killed.
Fourteen years later, on February 28, 1995, Manzoor's brother filed a case in Chittagong. However, due to the repeated pleas of the state and the change of government, it took about 16 more years for the trial to reach its final stage. Excluding the late Ershad and Latif, there are currently three accused in the case. They are- Retired Major Kazi Emdadul Haque, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Mostafa Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan and Retired Lieutenant Colonel Shamsur Rahman Shamser. They are all currently out on bail.
