DHAKA - A court in Bangladesh opened a murder investigation into ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six top figures in her administration Tuesday over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month. Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India a week ago, where she remains, as protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted tenure.
More than 450 people were killed during the weeks of unrest leading up to her toppling. “A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more,” said Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen. He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered police to accept “the murder case against the accused persons”, the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law. Mia’s filing with the court also named Hasina’s former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party. It also names four top police officers appointed by Hasina’s government who have since vacated their posts. The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on July 19 by police violently suppressing protests. The Daily Star newspaper reported that the case was brought on behalf of Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighbourhood where the shooting happened and a “well-wisher” of the victim.