Ex-MP Ovi acquitted in model Tinni murder case
CID pressed charges against Ovi in 2008
A Dhaka court today (14 January) acquitted former Jatiya Party lawmaker Golam Faruq Ovi in a case filed over the 2002 murder of model Syeda Tania Mahbub Tinni.
Second Additional District and Sessions Judge Shahinur Akhter delivered the verdict, according to the court's bench assistant Aminur Rahman.
Ovi, who remains at large, was represented by a state-appointed lawyer. No one from Tinni's family was present in court.
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Additional Public Prosecutor Syed Md Abu Jafar Rizvi said the state was not satisfied with the verdict and would decide whether to move the High Court to challenge it after reviewing the judgment.
On 10 November 2002, Tinni's body was found under the China-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge over the Buriganga River in Dhaka.
The murder case was filed at Keraniganj police station on the same day.
Following the incident, police arrested Tinni's former husband Shafakat Ahmed Pial and others – Swapan Gazi, Gazi Sharifullah Tapan, Shafiqul Islam Jewel, and Somnath Saha Bappy.
On 8 November 2008, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pressed charges against Ovi and dropped the names of Pial and others, as the allegations against them were not proven.
Investigators say Ovi killed Tinni to hide his "illicit relationship" with her. According to the charge sheet, Ovi killed her because she insisted on getting social recognition through marriage.
Eight years after the murder, a court indicted Ovi in July 2010. However, Ovi secured bail and moved to Canada.
Following the charge sheet, the court had issued an arrest warrant against the former MP asking him to appear before it on different dates, but Ovi did not comply with the court order.
