Staff Reporter :
A Dhaka court has postponed until 10 November the hearings in three corruption cases filed against 47 individuals, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her son SajeebWazed Joy, and daughter SaimaWazedPutul, over alleged irregularities in the allocation of plots by Rajuk.
The order came from Dhaka Special Judge Court-5 Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun after defence lawyers failed to conclude the cross-examination of the investigating officers in two of the cases.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam confirmed the adjournment, saying that the day’s session was scheduled for the cross-examination of the investigation officer in Hasina’s case, which has now been completed. The court also granted permission to cross-examine the plaintiff in this case.
He added that the defence partially cross-examined the investigation officer in the case against Joy, while the testimony in the case involving Putul could not proceed due to time constraints.
ACC Assistant Directors Afnan Jannat Keya and SM Rashedul Hasan-investigating officers in the respective cases against Hasina, Joy, and Putul-were present in court.
They were cross-examined by the defence, but the process could not be completed within the day’s proceedings.
Afnan Jannat Keya, who is also investigating the case against 18 accused including Putul, was supposed to testify in that case as well. However, the hearing did not take place as the earlier sessions ran throughout the day.
So far, 79 prosecution witnesses have testified in the three cases.
The Special Judge Court-5 framed charges in three of the six Rajuk plot scam cases on 31 July and issued arrest warrants against the accused. On the same day, the Special Judge Court-4 framed charges in the remaining three cases.
Earlier, on 20 July, Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Zakir Hossain Galib transferred the cases to the trial courts after the accused repeatedly failed to appear. Prior to that, on 1 July, the court had ordered a gazette notification summoning 100 accused, including Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Rehana, and SajeebWazed Joy.
The ACC filed the six cases between 12 and 14 January 2025 and submitted charge sheets in all of them on 10 March.
According to case files, ACC Deputy Director MdSalahuddin lodged the first case on 14 January against eight accused, including Hasina, over the alleged illegal allocation of a 10-katha plot in Purbachal. The charge sheet later expanded the list to 12 accused.
That same day, ACC Assistant Director SM Rashedul Hasan filed another case against 15 individuals, including Hasina and Joy, later naming 17 accused in the charge sheet.
On 13 January, Salahuddin filed two more cases-one naming Hasina, Sheikh Rehana, RadwanMujib, Tulip Siddiq, and AzminaSiddiq among 17 accused, and another against Hasina, Tulip, and AzminaSiddiq with 18 accused listed in total.
Separate cases were also filed against RadwanMujib and 15 others, and against Hasina and SaimaWazedPutul, both of which later listed 18 accused in the charge sheets.
The cases, filed under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, allege that the accused abused their positions of power to unlawfully obtain residential plots from Rajuk in violation of the established allocation rules.
