A special tribunal here today set March 10 for submitting the report of further investigation into a case lodged under the Digital Security Act (DSA) against 11 people, including Zulkarnain Shayer Khan alias Sami, who appeared in an allegedly false and politically motivated report, aired by Al Jazeera recently.
Judge As Shams Jaglul Hossain of Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal passed the order as investigation agency Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) unit failed to submit the report today.
Earlier on February 10, the tribunal ordered CTTC to further investigate the case and submit the report today.
The court had come up with the order, allowing a prosecution plea to further investigate the case. The prosecution on February 9 also filed naraji (no-confidence) petition against the charge-sheet for dropping names of eight accused including Sami.
Earlier on January 13, police filed the charge-sheet against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan and writer Mushtak Ahmed.
Police, however, excluded names of eight accused Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif Mohiuddin, Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid and Philip Shumakher from the charge-sheet.
The investigation officer pleaded to acquit them of the charges, saying the allegations brought against them were not proved.
RAB filed the case against 11 persons on May 5, 2020, on the charges of spreading anti-state falsehood to tarnish the image of Bangladesh and create confusion from a Facebook page.
(BSS)
