Kibria Assassination
Testimony of vital witness recorded
Over seven years past the assassination of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, investigators, in line with a court order, recorded the testimony of Kibria's personal aide who was with him during the grenade attack.
Surprisingly, neither of the two previous investigations treated the aide, Abdullah, as a vital witness.
Senior Assistant Police Superintendent Mehrunnesa Parul, the new investigation officer (IO) of the case, told the news agency yesterday that Abdullah, wounded in the attack on January 27, 2005, had accompanied Kibria to the crime scene at Baidderbazar village of Habiganj.
“He (Kibria) asked me to sit on the front row of the small public meeting so that I could be in touch with him,” Parul quoted Abdullah as saying.
When they were walking out after the meeting, the grenades exploded, killing five people including Kibria, an Awami League leader, said Abdullah.
Criminal Investigation Department appointed Parul as the IO on January 29, 2012 following the court order on Kibria's family's non-acceptance petition against the second investigation. The petition stated that the investigation could not identify the “real culprits”.
During the military-backed interim government regime, a court on February 26, 2007 ordered further investigation into the case as the family, through a petition, declined to accept the original charge sheet.
The second investigation, completed last year, had found former state minister for home Lutfuzzaman Babar and 13 others, mostly operatives of Harkatul Jihad, involved in the attack.
The first probe was conducted during the past BNP-led regime.
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