Dhaka: Oct 24: A Dhaka court has dismissed a case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and three others related to the deaths of 42 people in petrol bomb attacks during a nationwide blockade and strike in 2015.
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ziadur Rahman accepted the investigation report submitted by police and dismissed the case.
The case was initially filed on February 2, 2015, by Bangladesh Jannetri Parishad President AB Siddiqui in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Atiqur Rahman, accusing Khaleda Zia and three others. The court had then directed Gulshan police station to investigate the matter.
On September 21, 2024, Sub-Inspector (SI) Shaheen Mollah of Gulshan police station submitted the investigation report.
The report stated that no evidence of criminal activity was found against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, BNP Standing Committee member Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia, the late former Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Emajuddin Ahmad, and Khaleda’s former advisor Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury under sections 302/34/109 of the Penal Code.
According to the case complaint, on January 5, 2015, at 5pm, Khaleda Zia had announced a “peaceful blockade” from her Gulshan office, followed by a call for a nationwide strike.
The complaint alleged that between January 5 and February 1, 2015, 42 people died in firebombing incidents across the country, causing significant damage and loss to the government.
