Seven Netrakona men were involved

International Crimes Tribunal's investigation agency yesterday said to have found evidence of the "involvement" of seven Netrakona men from Purbadhala upazila in seven incidents of crimes committed in the district during the Liberation War in 1971.

Meanwhile, the war crimes case against five Kishoreganj men is set to enter the final stage with International Crimes Tribunal-1 fixing April 10 to start hearing the closing arguments after Masud Rana, representing Shamsuddin Ahmed, declined producing witnesses.

Gazi Abdul Mannan, Nasiruddin Ahmed, Hafiz Uddin and Azharul Islam are on the run.

Moreover, Abdus Sobhan Tarafder, lawyer for war crimes accused Akmal Ali Talukdar of Moulvibazar, moved a bail petition, opposed by prosecutor Syed Haider Ali. The tribunal fixed March 24 to pass an order.

Akmal was arrested at his Panchgaon village residence in Rajnagar upazila on November 26, 2015 hours after the tribunal ordered the arrest of him and three others, Abdun Nur Talukdar, Anis Mia and Abdul Mosabber Mia, of the upazila, all of whom are on the run.

NETRAKONA

They were "involved" with Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, and abductions, torture, lootings, arsons, rape, murder and acts of genocide, the agency's coordinator, Abdul Hannan Khan, told journalists at its Dhanmondi office.

He said as per the investigation officer, the incidents concerned the killing of eight people after abduction, looting of three houses and torching of eight and rape of a woman.

Of the seven, Abdur Rahman, 70, is now in jail and Ahmmad Ali, 78, died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital on October 28, 2015 of chronic asthmatic bronchitis while investigations were ongoing, said Hannan.

The rest, Sheikh Abdul Majid alias Majid Maulana, 66, Abdul Khaleque Talukder, 67, Kabir Khan, 70, Salam Begh, 68, and Nuruddin alias Raddin, 70, are on the run, he said.

A co-coordinator of the agency, Sanaul Huq, said they would recommend dropping Ahmmad from the charge sheet.

Meanwhile, the case's investigation officer, Shahjahan Kabir, handed over the probe report and other documents to the prosecution.

Mukhlesur Rahman Badal, the case's conducting prosecutor, told The Daily Star that they would submit formal charges for initiating the trial if the documents were to be found satisfactory during scrutiny.

Sanaul told the press conference that the accused were involved with either Muslim League or Nezam-e-Islami, two anti-liberation political parties, in 1971 and joined Razakar Bahini when the Liberation War began.

He said Khaleque was currently involved with the politics of Awami League, Majid with Jamaat-e-Islami and Kabir, Abdur, Salam and Nuruddin with BNP.

KISHOREGANJ

After the hearing centring seven charges, the three-member tribunal led by Justice Anwarul Haque will either keep the verdict waiting or set a date for its pronouncement.

Earlier, the prosecution produced 25 witnesses including the investigation officer. Shamsuddin's counsel had taken time twice to produce the witnesses.