Detained former Ashulia police sub-inspector Sheikh Afzalul Haque on Wednesday testified that the then officer-in-charge AFM Sayeed Roni and SI Abdul Malek and ASI Biswajit Saha had jointly burned the bodies of the protesters who were kept on a police pickup after being shot dead on August 5, 2024.
Afzal in his deposition before the three-judge International Crimes Tribunal-2, chaired by Justice Nozrul Islam Chowdhury, further said that the OC and several others left the police station at about 5:30pm that day and went to the cantonment with army troops.
Afzal apologised to the families of the July鈥揂ugust 2024 victims and also to the tribunal.
He said that he wanted to 鈥榬epay a little of his liability鈥� by cooperating with the tribunal in the trial.
According to Afzal, Biswajit and other police personnel opened fire on protesters advancing towards the police station at about 4:00pm on August 5.
Several protesters collapsed immediately after聽 being shot, he said, adding that the OC was 鈥榳alking around and saying 鈥榮ir鈥�, 鈥榮ir鈥� over the phone鈥� during the incident.
On the OC鈥檚 orders, some police personnel lifted the bodies onto a van and then transferred them to another police pickup, he said.
Afzal added that he saw Malek and Biswajit consulting with the OC. 鈥榃hen I approached, they stopped talking. I guessed they were planning something. I felt nervous and decided to leave,鈥� he told the tribunal.
He said that he returned to the police station, changed out of his uniform but kept his pistol concealed in his waistband, and left for fruit seller Kamal鈥檚 house, where he stayed the night. The next morning, he went to his private residence near Baipail. On August 15, he surrendered his pistol.
Afzal also said that he did not see any action taken by Dhaka range DIG Nurul Islam, SP Asaduzzaman Ripon, additional SPs Abdullah Hil Kafi and Shahidul regarding the killings and the burning of bodies using petrol. All are accused in the case.
The seven other detained accused in the Ashulia case are Kafi, Shahidul, Detective Branch inspector Md Arafat Hossain Arju, sub-inspectors Arafat Uddin and Abdul Malek, ASI Kamrul Hasan and former constable Mukul Chowkder.
The eight fugitive accused are former independent lawmaker for Dhaka-19 Muhammad Saiful Islam, DIG Nurul Islam, SP Asaduzzaman, SP Saidul, OC Sayeed, former inspector (investigation) Mohammad Masudur Rahman, former inspector (operation) Nirmal Kumar Das, ASI Biswajit Saha and one Rani Bhuiyan.
A total of 53 individuals have been listed to testify.
They include seven family members of the victims, four eyewitnesses, four injured survivors, seven participants of the July mass uprising, two people who buried unidentified bodies, and four police witnesses.
Earlier, on August 21, the tribunal framed charges against all the 16 accused.
Eight arrested accused were present in the tribunal.
Afzal is the second police officer to have confessed to involvement in the July 2024 killings.