Bangladesh's ousted PM Hasina named in chargesheet in case of murder during July uprising

Dhaka: Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina is among 25 people named in a chargesheet filed by police in a case of murder in the capital during the July Uprising, a media report said on Friday.

The Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) of police filed the chargesheet against 25 people, including Hasina and former ministers Obaidul Quader and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, in the case of murder of Abujar Sheikh in the capital's Pragati Sarani area, state-run BSS reported.

According to the case documents, Sheikh was shot on the evening of July 19, 2024, while an anti-discrimination student-public procession was underway in front of Baridhara General Hospital on Pragati Sarani in Gulshan.

Local leaders of the Awami League and Jubo League allegedly opened fire on the procession, according to the chargesheet.

Sheikh was first admitted to Evercare Hospital and later transferred to Dhaka Metropolitan Hospital for advanced treatment. He died on July 27 of the same year while undergoing treatment.

On November 16, 2024, Abujar Sheikh's mother Chobi Khatun filed a murder case with Gulshan police station. A total of 27 people, including Hasina, were initially named as accused in the case.

After completing the investigation, Sub-Inspector Israil Hossain of the ATU submitted the charge sheet on February 18, against 25 accused.

The chargesheet alleged that the accused, in collusion with one another and with common intention, formed an unlawful assembly and, in pursuit of their shared objective, used force and violence.

By remaining present at the scene and instigating the act, they facilitated the commission of the killing, the chargesheet said.

Earlier this month, a Bangladesh court sentenced Hasina to a total of 10 years' imprisonment and her niece, British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to four years in jail, in two corruption cases related to irregularities in allocations of land in a housing project.

Hasina, 78, was sentenced to five years in jail each in two separate cases for using her official influence in allocating residential plots to others, including Tulip, under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol on the outskirts of the capital.

Hasina's Awami League government was toppled in a student-led violent protest dubbed 'July Uprising' on August 5, 2024.

A special tribunal last year sentenced Hasina to death on charges of committing crimes against humanity through brutal efforts to tame the uprising.