BDR Carnage Trial
Incumbent IGP refuses to disclose ex-IGP's directives
Pandemonium gripped a Dhaka court yesterday after Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker for several times refrained from disclosing the exact directives he received from the ex-IGP during the 2009 BDR mutiny.
“I will not give the answer due to strategic reasons,” said Hassan Mahmood after Judge Mohammad Zohurul Hoque intervened and the commotion had settled down.
Defence lawyer Aminul Islam, while cross-examining the IGP, had sought the exact directives the latter had received and the instructions he had given to his subordinates.
Hassan Mahmood was avoiding a direct reply, going on to talk on other issues.
Annoyed, the defence lawyers repeated the question four times and asked the judge for assistance. At one stage, prosecutors came to the IGP's help and locked in a noisy argument with the defence lawyers, leading to the commotion.
Earlier, the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, set up at Alia Madrasa playground in the capital's Bakshibazar to hold the BDR carnage trial, started recording Hassan Mahmood's deposition around 11:20am.
Hassan Mahmood, who was the director general (DG) of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in 2009, said he was called to the former IGP Nur Mohammad's office to discuss over the situation at Pilkhana on February 25, the first day of the mutiny.
“We talked about the situation in Pilkhana in presence of IGP and other high officials and the IGP gave us some directions.
“Later, from there, I contacted the additional DG of Rab and the company commanders over phone to give necessary instructions over the situation at Pilkhana,” he said.
He added, “As the rebels began deploying heavy weapons around 11:00am, it became risky to send Rab members inside Pilkhana to conduct an operation.”
The BDR rebels had introduced deputy assistant director Towhid as their new DG several times and he had witnessed Towhid actively leading the mutineers on the first day, he said.
He said he heard that the bodies of two slain army officers were found in a sewerage at Nababganj but did not inform the home minister before going to Jamuna.
Seventy-four people including 57 army officials were killed in the two-day mutiny in the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters in Pilkhana.
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