Fresh probe into attack on US envoy in 2018 ordered

 

Live Desk: A magistrate court in Dhaka has approved an application seeking further investigation into the attack on former United States ambassador to Dhaka, Marcia Bernicat, in Mohammadpur on August 4, 2018, but it is yet to finalize which police agency will investigate it.

Metropolitan magistrate Shahidul Islam approved the application of the public prosecutor seeking further investigation in the midst of the trial after recording six of a total of 19 prosecution witnesses in the case.

The Metropolitan Session Judges Court public prosecutor Abdullah Abu said that they sought further investigation, and the court approved their application on Wednesday.

‘Three of the six prosecution witnesses, who have so far made their depositions, mentioned a suspect named Ishtiaque Mahmud, whose name was dropped during the investigation.

As a result, the prosecution office sought further investigation,’ said Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner (prosecution) Jashim Uddin.

Three, including the complainant of the case, Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary at civil society advocacy group Shusasoner Jonno Nagorik, better known as Shujan, named Ishtiaque during his deposition, said the police official, adding that the magistrate was yet to task any agency in this regard.

‘We have been saying this investigation was just eyewash and dropped the main suspect,’ Badiul told New Age. Badiul believed Ishtiaque Mahmud played a key role in the attack but was not named on the charge sheet.

In March 2022, the trial in the case received momentum after the metropolitan magistrate framed charges against nine accused in the attack on the convoy of Bernicat, who currently serves as the director general of the Foreign Service at the US State Department.

The Metropolitan Magistrate court framed charges on March 1 in the presence of six of the nine accused and the representatives of the United States embassy in Dhaka. All six accused are now out on bail.

On August 4, 2018, some unidentified miscreants allegedly attacked the car of Bernicat, who was about to leave the house of Shujan's secretary around 11:00 pm after attending a dinner thrown in her honor at Iqbal Road in the capital’s Mohammadpur.

The US in a diplomatic note on August 6, 2018, to the foreign ministry sought a thorough investigation into the attack on the official vehicle of its ambassador in Dhaka.

Dhaka, 29 December (campuslive24.com)// BIT

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