A Dhaka court yesterday re-fixed September 15 for the verdict on the killing of Sub-Inspector (SI) Farhad.

The court, however, acquitted all the 23 accused in a separate bomb blast case filed the same day on the same occasion.

The accused include Jubo Dal leader Rafiqul Islam Kajol and 22 others, the then leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal of Jagannath University College unit.

Judge Mohammad Rabiul Hassan of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order shifting the date as an absconding accused in the case AF Zaman Khan Ashish appealed to show him arrested and examine the witnesses in the case.

The court granted the appeal for showing him arrested in the case but rejected the plea for recalling the witnesses for examination.

The court fixed September 15 for defending himself. Ashish was arrested

on November 15, 2002 in another case and has been in the jail since then.

SI Hasanul Haq Farhad, 30, was killed during a gunbattle between the two factions of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) at Jagannath University College on March 5in 1994.

Both the groups, one led by Sagir Ahmed and the other by Kajol, engaged themselves in clash to establish supremacy on the college campus. During the shootout, Forhad caught one of the leaders red handed with a firearm but others fired gunshots to free theirleader.

Later, Police Inspector Majibul Haq filed a murder case against Sagir, Kajol and 50 others the same day in this connection.

Sagir was shot dead by a group of miscreants in front of his residence in the city's Sutrapur area on June 17 this year.

Kajol, accused in the Sutrapur double murder case, has been absconding since the incident in March last year.

Bomb Blast Case

The court acquitted accused in the bomb blast case as the prosecution failed to prove the allegations brought against them filed under the Explosive Substances Act.

In the verdict the judge said, 'College campus is a big area. The law enforcing agencies in their investigations could not ascertain who exploded the bombs from which side. The prosecution did neither claim that anybody was held red handed with cocktail bombs nor did it give any specific statement in their depositions about the spot of explosions. So the prosecution has failed to prove the allegations against the accused".

Four of the 23 accused, Ripon, Kauser, Shahabuddin and Hamid were present in the court during the delivery of the verdict. Accused Kajol and 18 others have been absconding since the incident.

Assistant Public Prosecutors Abdul Alim and Kamruddin appeared for the state while advocates Mahbub Ahmed and Iqbal Ahmed defended the accused. Q