Plot to oust Yunus govt? Case filed against Hasina in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Bangladesh police have filed a case against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 72 others on charges of hatching a conspiracy to overthrow the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus by waging a civil war, officials and media reports said on Saturday.

“Yes, our Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has filed the case with Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on charge of conspiracy to topple the existing government,” a police official said.

The court took into cognizance the case and asked the CID to launch an investigation on Thursday.

The CID filed the case after receiving information about an online meeting on December 19, 2024, where participants formed a platform called the "Joy Bangla Brigade" and discussed plans to re-install Hasina back to power through a civil war.

“Voice recordings of the conversation between former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the host, co-host, and other participating leaders and activists - hosted by Dr Rabbi Alam - revealed that the attendees vowed not to allow the legitimate government to run the country peacefully,” the state-run BSS reported citing the case.

Police said a total of 577 individuals from home and abroad attended the meeting and showed support for Hasina's directives in the meeting convened by Awami League’s US chapter vice president Alam, who was named as the second accused in the case filed under the penal code.

Hasina’s 16-year-long Awami League regime was toppled on August 5 last year in a student-led violent mass uprising. Since then, 77-year-old Hasina has been living in India after secretly leaving Bangladesh.

She has been facing over 100 cases, including that of mass murder and corruption, since her ouster.

Most of her party leaders and ministers in her government were arrested or fled abroad to evade trial on charges like crimes against humanity or mass murders.

After her ouster, Yunus took charge as the Chief Adviser of the interim government.

Hasina's Awami League is absent from Bangladesh’s political domain.

Hasian, several of her party leaders and political analysts alleged that the ouster of her regime was the fallout of a long-drawn conspiracy hatched by Yunus himself with the support of a major Western government.

Hasina and several of her senior ministers and political aides have been indicted by Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal for committing crimes against humanity during the Students Against Discrimination-led protest.

 The tribunal was originally instituted during the past regime to try collaborators of Pakistani military actions to carry on genocide during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.