Killing of autorickshaw driver: Another murder case filed against Hasina since ouster

Another murder case has been filed against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, other senior Awami League leaders and law enforcement officials since she was ousted in the face of a mass uprising earlier this month.

The latest case has been filed over the killing of an autorickshaw driver, Sahabuddin, in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area of Dhaka during the recent student movement, which led to the mass uprising against the AL-led government. 

Victim's father Abul Kalam filed an application to file a murder case with the Court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Farah Diba Sonda against Sheikh Hasina and 10 others today (15 August), Kashem's lawyer Liton Mia told the media. 

After scrutinising the documents submitted before the court, the judge asked the officer-in-charge of Sher-e Bangla Nagar Police Station to register the complaint as a First Information Report (FIR).

This is the fifth case filed against Hasina since she fled the country on 5 August. The other cases have been filed over murder, genocide, enforced disappearances and other charges.

In the latest case, apart from Hasina, other accused are: former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former law minister Anisul Huq, Sheikh Hasina's former advisor Salman F Rahman, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former information state minister Mohammad Ali Arafat, former IGP Abdullah Al Mamun, former chief of DMP's Detective Branch Harun Or Rashid, former additional joint Commissioner of DMP Biplab Kumar, and former DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman. 

According to the case statement, the victim was shot dead around 7.15pm on 5 August by some unidentified members of the police as he went out to buy food for his family.

Kashem immediately collapsed on the spot after being shot. Nearby people rescued him and took him to the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital (NINS), where doctors declared him dead.