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Brother-in-law's statement recorded

COURT CORRESPONDENT
Arshadul Haq, fifth prosecution witness in the Shazneen case and husband of the victim's sister, gave his deposition before court yesterday.
Kazi Rahamat Ullah, Judge of the Second Special Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression, Dhaka, recorded the deposition for one and a half hours.
The witness was then crossexamined by the lawyer of principal accused in the case Shahidul Islam alias Shahid.
Arshad identified all the six accused --Shahid, Hasan, Badal, Shaniram, Minu and Parvin -- in the dock.
The court then adjourned the hearing till February 2.
In his deposition, Arshad said that on April 6, 1998, he and his brother-in-law Waqar Hossain (husband of another sister of the victim) went to Marina Tea Garden at Kulaura in Sylhet. His wife, wife's elder sister Simeen Hossain, their children and Shazneen had already gone there on April 2.
At about 10 am on April 7, Shazneen told them that a serious incident had taken place on April 1 at their Gulshan residence in Dhaka.
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She said that at about 3:30 pm contractor Hasan had entered her (Shazneen's) bedroom (at Gulshan residence) and asked her to show the defective mirror in the bathroom. As she entered the bathroom, Hassan grabbed her with ill-motive. Shazneen pushed him aside and warned that she would tell her parents about this so that he is punished. Hasan became angry and went away, Arshad told the court.
"We took the incident very seriously and we decided to report it to our father-in-law and mother-inlaw after their return home from shillong (in India)," he said. They went there on April 3.
"We all returned to my sister-inlaw Simeen's Baridhara residence in Dhaka on April 16. My father-inlaw and mother-in-law returned from Shillong on April 18 and took Shazneen from there. But my mother-in-law fell sick. So, we decided to report the April 1 incident to them at a later date, on April 24," the witness said.
He went on, "At about 10:15 pm on April 23, a telephonic message came to my sister-in-law from my father-in-law's house that something had happened to Shazneen. Soon after this, my wife Shehzi, sister-in-law Simeen, her husband Waqar Hossain and I went there and saw my father-in-law crying beside Shazneen's body on the floor in front of the bathroom. Her body was blood-stained.
"After a few minutes, I went out of the room and came to know that Shahidul alias Shahid was missing and a kitchen knife was also missing. I found that all security lights on the compound of the house were off but the light in the servants' bathroom was on. Its door was closed. As I knocked it repeatedly, guard Humayun came out of it and I found his hands, face, legs and dress wet. He (Humayun) lokked bewildered. I asked him why he was yet to leave the house as his duty hours ended at 10:00 pm.
"I also asked him what he was doing there. He left the spot without saying anything."
Arshad said he then went to the backyard of the house and was surprised to see that 10 to 12 people including carpenter Shaniram were lying nearby as if they were asleep despite so much of noise around. He also came to know that Minu and Parvin were giving conflicting versions of the incident.
The witness told the court that he did not saw Hasan at his father-inlaw's house. Later, he (Hasan) was called by Shazneen's paternal uncle Masum on April 30. "We asked him (Hasan) when he came to know about Shazneen's incident. But he became nervous and went away saying nothing."
He went on, "Shehzi, Simeen, her husband Waqar Hossain and I reported the April 1 incident involving Hasan to my father-in law and mother-in law after their health condition improved."
Arshad said he went to his fatherin-law's house on September 27 and came to know that police took Shahid to that house and he narrated the incident in detail.
He (Shahid) said Hasan and Badal hired Humayun Minu, Parvin, and Shaniram and him to kill Shazneen after rape. Later, Shahid described how she was raped and killed and how he fled the scene with the help of Shaniram, throwing the blood-stained knife beside the tinshed. Shahid then met Hasan at Gulshan Avenue where he was waiting in a microbus. Hasan asked him if the job was done. Shahid said it was done as per his instruction, Arshad told the court.
Shazneen Tasnim Rahman, 15, the youngest daughter of Latifur Rahman, Chairman of Transcom, was raped and murdered at their Gulshan residence on April 23, 1998.
Special Public Prosecutions (PPS) Arfanuddin Khan, ABK Sharfuddin Khan Mukul and Assistant PP Anisur Rahman appeared for the state.Advocates MA Kamrul Hasan Khan Aslam, Mosharraf Hossain Kajol, Mizanur Rahman, Anwarul Kabir Babul and Abdus Salam Bhuiyan represented the accused.
Meanwhile, the court rejected the bail petitions of Shahid and Shaniram submitted on Wednesday by defence lawyers.