Actor Sohel Chy murder: SC asks lower court to finish trial in 6 months
Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 of Dhaka to finish in the next six months the trial proceedings of the case filed in connection with the murder of film actor Sohel Chowdhury, 25 years ago.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan passed the order after dismissing a leave to appeal petition filed by the state challenging the HC’s bail order to Ashish Roy Chowdhury, an accused in the case.
Meanwhile, M Ali Ahmed, judge of the of tribunal, in a written explanation told the SC that his court could not finish the trial proceedings as the prosecution could not produce the witnesses before the tribunal for giving depositions in the case, said Shah Monjurul Hoque, a lawyer for Ashish.
The lawyer said there was no legal bar for Ashish Roy to get released from jail following the Appellate Division’s order.
Earlier on February 6, the apex court asked the lower court concerned to finish the trial proceedings of the case in six months.
On October 29, this year, the lawyer of the accused told the court that the stipulated time framed by the apex court ended on October 11 and the trial proceedings have not finished yet.
Then the apex court issued a show cause notice upon the judge of the tribunal, asking him to explain as to why his court could not finish the trial proceedings of the murder case within six months, even after the SC had ordered for doing so.
The court at the same time fixed November 12 for holding hearing on the leave to appeal petition filed by the state against the HC bail to Ashish Roy. Accordingly the case came to the cause-list for hearing on Monday.
Senior Advocate Shah Monjurul Hoque and Barrister Muhammad Harunur Rashid appeared in the court hearing on behalf of Ashish Roy, while Deputy Attorney General Md Sarwar Hossen Bappi represented the state.
Later Mr Shah Monjurul Hoque said, “The apex court has dismissed the petition filed by the state and asked the lower court to finish the trial proceedings of the case within six months. As a result, the bail granted to Ashish Roy by the High Court is still in force. There is no legal bar to get release for him.”
A High Court bench on January 10 this year granted bail to Ashis Roy this year. Later the state filed leave to appeal petition seeking stay on the HC bail order.
On December 17, 1998, Sohel Chowdhury was shot dead at Trumps Club in Abedin Tower, in Dhaka’s Banani area. A charge sheet was submitted in 1999 against nine people including Ashish Roy in the murder case filed with Gulshan Police Station.
The Trial proceedings were stopped when an accused challenged the trial proceedings with the High Court. Again it was resumed last year following another HC order.
Ashish Roy was shown arrested in the murder case on April 10 in 2022, after Rab detained him on April 8 last year from his Gulshan home in Dhaka in case filed under narcotics act.
