Questions at the ICT: Bribery claim, Facebook post and a replaced CCTV drive
A Facebook post by an International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) prosecutor sparked a major outcry after alleging that the wife of former sub-inspector Sheikh Abzalul Haque, an accused in a case, visited the chamber of an influential prosecutor carrying a heavy bag.
The post further alleged that Abzalul was later made a prosecution witness in exchange for money and was eventually acquitted. The implication was explosive.
Several prosecutors said the September 19, 2025 visit had already raised serious concern.
The February 23, 2026 Facebook post by ICT prosecutor BM Sultan Mahmud also claimed that he and several other prosecutors raised the matter with then chief prosecutor Tajul Islam, but no action was taken. Instead, he allegedly reprimanded prosecutor (administration) Gazi Monawar Hossain Tamim, questioning why the wife of an accused had visited his room. Both the prosecutor and the former chief prosecutor deny any wrongdoing. For now, the matter remains one side’s account against the other.
After several more allegations of unethical conduct involving members of the ICT prosecution team surfaced, a fact-finding committee headed by Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam was formed on March 10 to examine whether any misconduct had occurred since the restructuring of the International Crimes Tribunal following the political changeover of August 5, 2024.
However, the committee may now face challenges in obtaining crucial evidence -- if any exists -- regarding Sultan’s allegation that the wife of an accused in the Ashulia six-body burning case visited Tamim’s room with a bag containing money. This is because one of the ICT’s hard disk drives (HDD), which was supposed to have recorded CCTV footage outside Tamim’s office on the day of the alleged incident, was replaced weeks later.
A prosecutor familiar with the matter said that when ICT prosecutor and special investigation officer Tanvir Hasan Zoha recently examined system logs, he found that the HDD expected to contain footage of the tribunal’s entry gate and the corridor outside Tamim’s office on the relevant day had already been replaced.
The issue surfaced after Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam asked Zoha to retrieve the relevant footage. Zoha, also a computer forensic investigator and a part-time associate professor in the Software Engineering Department at Daffodil International University, declined to comment when contacted.
Registrar records show that the HDD of the fourth network video recorder (NVR) was reported “damaged/hacked” and replaced on October 13, 2025, under official instructions. Assistant Sub-Inspector Md Nasir Uddin noted that he contacted the supplier, Barun, immediately, and the replacement was carried out the following day in the presence of Public Works Department staff.
Asked whether the hard drive had been damaged or hacked, ASI Nasir said, “I am not sure whether the hard disk was damaged or hacked. Experts will be able to determine that.”
When asked about the replacement of the hard drive, the chief prosecutor said on Sunday (March 29), “Nothing will be left out of our investigation. I am not saying anything more now, but whatever facts emerge, I will address all of them.”
Responding to another query, he said, “We will be able to submit the report within 15-20 days.” Notices have already been issued to the persons concerned, asking them to appear before the committee and give their statements, he added.
Sultan Mahmud recently told The Daily Star that he had sought the relevant CCTV footage from the ICT registrar days after the incident, but it was not provided.
Tribunal Registrar ASM Ruhul Emran told The Daily Star, “If any CCTV equipment becomes faulty, we replace it regularly. Such replacements are part of routine maintenance.” He further said no specific component was replaced targeting any particular camera.
Regarding Sultan Mahmud’s claim, the registrar said the request had been made verbally. “He did not make a written request. Since it was not formally requested, I did not provide it.”
Supplier Barun told The Daily Star that after finding the drive non-functional, he replaced it with a new one as it was under warranty. Each NVR, he said, contains three drives capable of storing around 10 days of footage in sequence before older data is overwritten.
Despite this, several prosecutors questioned why the allegedly damaged drive was not preserved. They argued that if hacking had been suspected, authorities should have filed a general diary and conducted a forensic examination, which might have enabled recovery of any deleted footage.
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