Pilkhana Carnage
Torab Ali ordered dumping of bodies
Witness tells court
The bodies of eight slain army officers, including that of the BDR chief, were collected from the Darbar Hall and adjacent areas to be dumped behind the BDR Hospital after directions from nayeb subedar Torab Ali on February 25, 2009, a witness said yesterday.
The soldiers who carried the bodies admitted the incident to Commanding Officer (CO) Lt Col Salam a few days after the massacre in Pilkhana, havildar Salim Sarwar, a medical assistant of the BDR hospital, said, adding that he was present during the soldiers' confession.
Salim, a witness in the carnage case, gave the account during his deposition before a Metropolitan Sessions Judges Court in the city's Bakshibazar.
The witness also said he found three bodies, those of a BDR soldier and two civilians, inside an ambulance before the mortuary at about 1:30pm on February 26.
“Since we couldn't identify the bodies, I asked nayek Khandakar Mozzamel (who was with Salim) to register them as unidentified bodies. Later we kept them in the mortuary”.
However, Shameem Sardar, the defense lawyer of Torab Ali, said Salim did not find the bodies; rather he killed the three persons and hid them in the mortuary.
“You are not right”, Salim replied.
During cross-examination, the lawyer also asked the witness why the CO (Lt Col Salam) did not arrest Torab Ali as soon as he was informed of Torab's involvement.
Sailm said he did not know.
Later, Havildar Hasanuzzaman and Nayek Samadul Haq gave depositions against five accused for opening fire and burning a motorcycle and a car of two army officers on February 25.
Defense lawyers later cross-examined them.
The court will resume on February 27.
A total of 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the Pilkahana headquarters of erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (now Border Guard Bangladesh) on February 25-26, 2009.
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