Pilkhana Mutiny

Charge framing on June 26

23 June 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

The special court-5 trying BDR mutiny at Pilkhana headquarters yesterday fixed June 26 for charge framing against the 667 accused of 24 Rifle Battalions after reading out individual charges. The court took four days to complete hearing the charges when all the accused involved in the February 25-26 massacre were present in the dock. The court headed by BDR Director General Md Rafiqul Islam continued from 9:00am to 2:00pm and was adjourned till June 26 after the day's proceedings. "Processes for framing charges against the accused will be finally completed on June 26,” said Col Aziz Ahmed, BDR sector commander of Dhaka, while briefing the newsmen. The court said the accused played active role during the mutiny staying inside Pilkhana. They first left the Darbar Hall ignoring the order of the then director general of Bangladesh Rifles Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed. They looted the magazines, took up firearms and forced others to take up arms, the court observed. After the massacre, most of them left the place spreading a rumour of army attack, said the court. The accused admitted their involvement in the mutiny to the investigators though they tried to dupe the inquiry by giving misleading information initially. As the court was reading out the charges, some of the accused were looking pale. They could also see the charges against them on display by two projectors set on both sides of the court. Initially the number of the accused was 668. The court exempted Naik Jainal Abedin from the charges as he died in the meantime. A total of 74 people including 57 army officers were brutally killed during the bloodbath at Pilkhana in 2009.