Bangladesh: Sheikh Moni murder case

by Srabanti Majumder
January 29, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/465/bangladesh-sheikh-moni-murder-case

Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, is the name of a politician, great philanthropist and owner of vernacular daily [now defunct] Bangla Bani.

Right after the brutal murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and members of his family on August 15, 1975, at around 1:30 am, several gunshots broke the silence of the night within road number 13/1 at Dhaka's Dhanmondi residential area.

A group of 25-30 army men rounded the house of Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni. Some of them were wearing black uniform equipped with Stein gun and Chinese Riffle. They went to the first floor of house number 170 and opened fire.

One Mohammed Shahabuddin, a close aide to Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, who was residing at the ground floor of the same building whipped through the window and saw two army lorries standing in front of the building. They [army men] left the spot after several minutes of gun fire. Later hearing cry, he went upstairs and found Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni and his wife Arju Mony lying on the floor in critical condition. Moni's parents, younger sister Sheikh Rekha and brother Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim were sobbing. Then Sheikh Moni's younger brother Sheikh Maruf also entered the room. Critically injured Arzu was crying to Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim for help and asked him to save them along with their two sons Sheikh Fazle Shams Porosh and Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.

Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Sheikh Maruf and Shahbuddin immediately rushed critically injured Sheikh Moni and his wife Arzu to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital [DMCH], where doctors declared them to be dead.

After 21 years of the incident, Shahabuddin lodged a murder case with Dhanmondi police station accusing 16 people including former deputy minister Taheruddin Thakur. Criminal Investigation Department [CID] on August 22, 2002 submitted final report in this case and subsequently the case was dismissed in secrecy.

On January 28, 2010, five jailed killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were hanged. The government is taking all out initiatives in bringing back other six absconding killers of the founding father of the nation.

But, there is no sign of re-investigating the case of brutal murder of Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni and his wife. Thirty four years have already passed from the pages of calendar since this tragic incident. Sheikh Moni's son Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh is now an eminent lawyer of the country as well an elected Member of Parliament. There is no doubt that, Taposh will do anything in seeing the killers of his parents getting their due punishment. No doubt, the masterminds of the entire episode are already awarded death penalty through the Bangabandhu murder case. But, who will identify those officers, who went to the residence of Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni and murdered him with his wife?

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