Papia, husband indicted in arms case
A Dhaka tribunal on Sunday framed charges against Juba Mohila League’s expelled leader Shamima Nur Papia and her husband Mofizur Rahman in an arms case.
Papia and Mofizur, now in jail, pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Special Tribunal-1 read out the charges to them.
Previously, the tribunal rejected their bail petition.
The defence pleader filed discharge petition on ground that they were not the owners of the gun and they had no liability regarding the arms.
The court rejected the petition after hearing it and framed charges against them. The tribunal fixed August 31 to start trial of the case.
On June 29, Rapid Action Battalion sub-inspector Arifuzzaman, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet against the couple to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka.
In the charge sheet, the IO said that 12 people had been made witnesses, the charges brought against the couple were primarily proven, and they should be brought under trial in this connection.
RAB-1 arrested Papia, her husband — a former Chhatra League leader — and their two accomplices Sabbir Khondaker, 29, and Sheikh Taiyaba, 22, at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on February 22 while they were trying to leave the country.
The elite force members seized seven passports; 2,12,270, fake notes worth of Tk 25,600; $11,481; 420 Sri Lankan rupees; 301 Indian rupees, and two debit cards from them.
RAB later raided Papia’s flats in Dhaka’s Farmgate area and seized a foreign-made pistol, two magazines, 20 cartridges, five bottles of foreign-made liquor, Tk 58,41,000 in cash, and credit and debit cards of different banks.
Later, three cases — two with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station under the Arms and the Special Powers Acts, and another with Biman Bandar police station under the Special Powers Act- 1974, were filed.
Earlier on August 4, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case against Papia and her husband for illegally amassing about Tk 6.24 crore
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net
