Balu, Belal Murder Cases
IGP in Khulna to oversee progress of investigation
Staff Correspondent, Khulna
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ashraful Huda arrived in Khulna yesterday evening from Dhaka to monitor the progress of the investigations of the murder cases of journalists Humayun Kabir Balu and Belaluddin as directed by the state minister for home affairs. He will also hold a meeting with the DIG of Khulna Range, senior officials of Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP) and SPs of ten districts of the division at 10:00 am today. Editor of Dainik Janmabhumi Humayun Kabir Balu was killed in a bomb attack on June 27 last year in front of his office-cum-residence on Hazi Ismail Road. Sub-Inspector Maruf lodged an FIR with Khulna thana as complainant naming none as accused on August 29 last year. Chargesheet of the case was submitted to the court naming eight outlaws of both M-L and Janajuddho factions of Purba Bangla Communist Party (PBCP) as accused. Two out of the eight accused were later dropped from the chargesheet. One of them was BDR Altaf of Janajuddho, who died in a crossfire with police in October last year and the other is Iqbal Hossain Shwadhin who is also a Janajuddho activist, now in the jail as an accused of the Dip Azad bomb attack case. Chargesheet of the case is yet to be submitted allegedly due to negligence of the Investigation Officer (IO) who is an inspector of KMP Detective Branch. Meanwhile, Journalist Belaluddin of Dainik Sangram was severally injured in a bomb attack at the press club on the night of February 5 and succumbed to his injuries on February 11 while under treatment at Combined Military Hospital(CMH) in Dhaka. Two separate cases were recorded with Khulna thana. Twelve persons were arrested by the then IO of the case, SI Asad. But all on a sudden, Khulna thana Officer in Charge Iqbal Hossain was made the new IO who reportedly shelved investigation of the case for some unknown reasons. He even refused to give out any information to the local journalists on the progress of the investigation. The IGP has been accompanied by the DIG Shamsul Islam of CID, ASP of Dhaka CID Mostafa Abdul Halim and the legal advisor of the ministry of home affairs.
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