Hearing on acceptability of case June 5

Judge (In charge) Mohammad Shamsul Alam Khan of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court set the date after scrutinising the relevant documents of the case.

Earlier on March 28, the same court took up the case following a criminal revision filed by Nazrul Islam, elder brother of the victim, against the dismissal order of the lower court.

On March 22, Metropolitan Magistrate AJM Abdullahel Baqui dismissed the case saying that the victim was murdered at Savar but the case was filed showing the place of occurrence (PO) as Kotwali in Dhaka.

Iman Ali, 40, was killed during a "shootout" between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices at Khagan under Savar Police Station sometime between 12:15pm of March 8 and 6:30am of March 9.

The accused in the case are State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, his cousins Mirza Hafizur Rahman and Mirza Nurul Islam, Home Secretary Sarfarraj Hossain, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abdul Quayyum and 47 others.

In his complaint, Nazrul said Babar's cousin Mirza Hafizur Rahman forcefully took possession of 11 acres of land at Miton village of Savar on February 16, but thousands of local people led by Dhaka district unit Jubo League leader Iman Ali managed to recover the land from the grabbers.

On March 8, Rab personnel arrested Iman Ali at a Dhaka court when he appeared before it in a criminal case filed against him. The next day, the complainant came to know that his brother was killed in ''crossfire'' and his body was lying at Khagan in Savar.

Iman was killed as he protested the land grabbing by Babar's cousin, the complainant alleged adding that the plan of killing was executed under the direction of high-ups, including the state minister.