4 charged after three decades in Sagira Morshed murder case

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has pressed charges against four people in connection with the Sagira Morshed murder case filed over 30 years ago.

Sagira Morshed Salam, a researcher at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, was shot dead in broad daylight on July 25, 1989 in the capital's Bailey Road area.

PBI Inspector Md Rafiqul Islam submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka on Thursday afternoon, on the last day of the deadline.

The four accused are: Sagira's brother-in-law Hasan Ali Chowdhury, Ali's wife Sayedatul Mahmuda alias Shahin, brother-in-law (Shahin's brother) Anas Mahmud alias Rezwan and their hired killer Maruf Reza.

During the investigation, all the four accused gave confessional statements narrating the incident.

Deputy Inspector General and PBI Chief Banaj Kumar Majumdar had briefed the media before submitting the charge sheet. He also sought capital punishment of the four accused.

Responding to a query, the PBI chief said, "It has been undoubtedly proven that the accused four were involve in the killing. But we could not manage to seize major pieces of evidence in the case, including the motorcycle and the gun.

"Because of this reason, we have submitted a video presentation with a sketch description of the incident. This type of presentation was also accepted by the court in the Nusrat murder case in Feni."

Meanwhile, the PBI also cleared 25 people who were arrested by the then investigation authority, the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Following the murder, the then inspector of DB had filed a charge sheet accusing a man named Md Jalil Mintu, who was released later.

However, the PBI did not press charges against the then investigation officer, who falsely implicated Mintu in the case. When asked about the matter, the PBI chief declined to make any comment.

According to case documents, on July 25, 1989, the victim Sagira, 34, was going to Viqarunnisa Noon School on the capital's Bailey Road by a rickshaw to pick up her daughter Saharat.

Sagira, however, was shot dead in front of the school.

Abdus Salam Chowdhury, husband of the victim, filed a murder case against some unknown people with the Ramna police station the same day. But the trial proceedings of the case had been stayed for the last 28 years following a High Court order.

The PBI started investigating the case on a High Court order on June 17, 2019. On November 20, the High Court gave the PBI 60 more days to investigate the murder.