Judge Mohammad Momin Ullah of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court set the date after receiving the lower court record.

Earlier on March 28, the same court took up the case following a criminal revision filed by Nazrul Islam, elder brother of the victim, against the dismissal order of the lower court.

On March 22, Metropolitan Magistrate AJM Abdullahel Baqui dismissed the case saying that the victim was murdered at Savar but the case was filed showing the place of occurrence (PO) as Kotwali in Dhaka.

Iman Ali, 40, was killed during a "shootout" between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices at Khagan under Savar Police Station sometime between 12:15pm of March 8 and 6:30am of March 9.

The accused in the case are State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, his cousins Mirza Hafizur Rahman and Mirza Nurul Islam, Home Secretary Sarfarraj Hossain, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abdul Quayyum, Additional IG (Headquarters) Anwarul Iqbal, Additional IG (Special Branch) Fakrul Ahmed and Additional IG (Criminal Investigation Department) Khoda Baksh.

The other accused are Director General (DG) of Rab Abdul Aziz Sarker, its commanding officer, second-in-command, DIG of Dhaka Range Dr Sadikur Rahman, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Dhaka Baktiar Alam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Savar Police Station Mohammad Haider Ali, Sub-Inspector (SI) Mortuza, 16 unidentified members of Rab-4, six unidentified constables and 16 other people.

In his complaint, Nazrul said Babar's cousin Mirza Hafizur Rahman forcefully took possession of 11 acres of land at Miton village of Savar on February 16, but thousands of local people led by Dhaka district unit Jubo League leader Iman Ali managed to recover the land from the grabbers.

On March 8, Rab personnel arrested Iman Ali at a Dhaka court when he appeared before it in a criminal case filed against him. The next day, the complainant came to know that his brother was killed in ''crossfire'' and his body was lying at Khagan in Savar.

Iman was killed as he protested the land grabbing by Babar's cousin, the complainant alleged adding that the planning and killing were executed under the direction of high-ups including the state minister.

Advocates Abu Sayed Sagor and Fazilatunnesa Bappy appeared for the complainant while Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Mahmud Hassan stood for the accused.