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PW-14 tells court

I knew about takeover of Radio Station

By Staff Correspondent
The 14th prosecution witness in Bangabandhu murder case, Dafadar (retd) Abdul Jabbar Mridha said yesterday that he had boarded a tank on the instructions of his commanding officer with the idea that the tanks were rolled out for an "operation."
Mridha said he had participated in the night exercise of August 14. 1975 and was among those Lancer soldiers who came in a tank and took over the Radio Station in the early morning of August 15. 1975. when Bangabandhu and his family members were killed.
Cross-examination of the PW-14 by the lawyers of accused in custody was in progress yesterday when the proceedings were adjourned till 10:00 am Monday During the day s proceedings, lawyers of seven absconding accused cross-examined Mridha The lawyers of seven absconding accused declined to cross examine him.
During his cross-examination Mridha also said that he was given force retirement from the Army in 1976 but he was not aware of the reasons.
"I boarded the tank on the instructions of my commanding officer. I had the idea that the tanks were brought out for an operation.'' the PW-14 said answering a question from Khan Saifur Rahman, lawyer of accused in custody Lt Col (dismissed) Farook Rahman. He also told the court that there were 32 tanks under the Unit at that time.
"Under the orders of the tank commander, we took over the control of Radio Station." he said answering questions from Abdul Wahed. lawyer of absconding accused Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Huq Dalim. When asked how the armed sentries at the Radio Station were disarmed, he said. ”1 do not know."
"Khandaker Mushtaque came to the Radio Station accompanied by Maj Khandaker Abdur Rashid in an army Jeep." he said replying to a question from Gazi Zillur Rahman, lawyer of absconding accused Lt Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rahid.
"I was in the Headquarter Squadron of the First Bengal Lancer Unit." the PW-14 said replying to a question of the lawyer of absconding accused Maj (relieved) Ahmed Shariful Hossain.
"The Headquarter Squadron generally maintained two tanks, one for the commanding officer and the other for the second-in-command and the rest were distributed among the remaining three other squadrons in the unit." he said replying to another question from the lawyer.
The lawyer of absconding accused Maj (retd) A K M Mohiuddin asked him why they did not take shells for the tank. The PW-14 said. There were no shells for tanks in the Regiment."
"It takes almost an hour to prepare a tank before taking it out for exercise," he said replying to a question from the lawyer of accused Farook.
'The tanks which were brought out on that night were prepared by the forces of the three sqpadrons.
"Heavy Machine Gun. Medium Machine Gun and Radio Communication System have to be Installed in a tank before they are brought out for an exercise.
The tanks brought out on that night were T-54s. Communication on board a tank is
conducted through intercom system while the netting' among tanks is done through radiocom.
"During movement, 'call signal number' is given for every tank which is used to locate any tank.
"I had noticed eight or ten tanks near the Farmgate. One of those followed us."
Answering another question. the PW-14 said that the destination of his tank was fixed but he was not aware whether the destinations for others were fixed or not.
The petition of Farook's lawyer which was kept pending on Tuesday for disposal yesterday was rejected and kept on record. The judge observed that the petition was rejected since it was in continuation of an earlier petition filed under Section 526(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The prayer was rejected.
In the petition filed on Monday, the lawyer had prayed for adjournment of the hearing, alleging that the judge had met a diplomat who came to observe the hearing. The lawyer had cited newspaper reports in support of his prayer. The Judge denied the reports and rejected the petition.