DHAKA:  A Dhaka court deferred the hearing on charge framing against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and eight others in the Barapukuria coalmine graft case till March 13 of 2019.

Judge HM Ruhul Imran of Special Judge's Court-2 of Dhaka passed the order on Tuesday (February 26).

Earlier on Monday (February 25), the bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam rejected a petition filed by former BNP minister Aminul Haque, an accused of the case, seeking cancellation of the case proceedings.

The court also directed to finish trial proceedings of the case in six months.

As stay order was withdrawn, the prison authority was asked to produce Khaleda Zia before the court on March 13.

A total of 13 persons were accused the case. However, Jamaat leader Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were executed for their crimes against humanity. Former agriculture minister MK Anwar and M Shamsul Islam died.

The nine other accused are- BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, former acting secretary to the energy and mineral resources ministry Nazrul Islam, former Petrobangla Director Mainul Ahsan, Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, and Hosaf Group Chairman Moazzem Hossain, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Altaf Hossain Choudhury, Md Aminul Haque, and AKM Mosharraf Hossain.

On February 26, 2008, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) assistant director Md Shamsul Alom filed the case with Shahbag Police Station.

The case reported loss of about Tk158 crore from the state while handing the production and management in the coal mine.

BDST: 2000 HRS, FEB 26, 2019

AH/SMS