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“The CID has informed the prosecution that court approval is necessary to proceed with verification. This has created challenges in certifying the evidence, which led us to seek the court’s guidance,” Zoha added.

Acknowledging the petition’s significance, the three-member bench led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumdar directed the CID and BTRC to verify the evidence. Justice Md Shofiul Alam Mahmood and Justice M Mohitul Hoque Anam Chowdhury were also part of the bench.

Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam later told reporters that all digital evidence must be certified by the CID in line with the law before being presented in court.

“We have collected substantial digital evidence from multiple sources. To ensure its certification, we submitted a petition requesting the court to instruct the CID to expedite this process,” he said.

Tajul, however, dismissed allegations of a lack of cooperation from government agencies. “This is an ongoing process. There’s no need to blame any agency at this stage. If non-cooperation persists, legal measures can be taken under the law, but for now, we seek everyone’s cooperation to prevent misunderstandings.”

He also said the petition was not limited to obtaining call records for any specific individual but aimed at verifying the certification of all relevant digital evidence.

COMPLAINT OVER ABU SAYED KILLING

A complaint was lodged yesterday with the ICT’s prosecution wing against Hasina and 23 others over the killing of Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed during the quota reform movement.

Ramzan Ali, elder brother of Sayed, filed the complaint in the evening, Chief Prosecutor Tajul told The Daily Star. He could not give names of other accused.

Ramzan along with a lawyer of a case filed over the murder of Sayed visited the ICT and met with the prosecution team earlier in the afternoon.

After the meeting, Ramzan told reports he visited the court to inquire about the activities of the ICT and did not lodge any complaint.

“We are yet to get justice in any of the cases filed over the killings of martyrs. Only two or three accused in the case over the killing of Abu Sayed have so far been arrested. There is no progress in the trial. So, we came here to discuss the case,” Ramzan said.

“The chief prosecutor assured us that the trial of all the killings, not just the trial in Abu Sayed’s case, will be held fast,” he added.

Ramzan could not be reached over the phone despite repeated attempts after he filed the complaint.

Police shot Abu Sayed during the quota reform protests in Rangpur on July 16. He died soon afterwards.

Sayed’s killing sparked widespread outrage and protests that subsequently led to the fall of Hasina on August 5.