A Dhaka court has deferred the verdict in the murder case against former Jatiya Party lawmaker Golam Faruk Ovi over the 2002 murder of model Syeda Tania Mahbub Tinni.
Dhaka Additional District and Sessions Judge Keshob Roy Chowdhury was to announce the decision on Monday, but the victim’s father Syed Mahbubul Karim and her uncle Syed Rezaul Karim petitioned to provide further testimony in the case.
The judge then set Jan 5 as the date for their depositions.
The verdict had previously been scheduled for Oct 26, but was deferred to Nov 15 after the state petitioned to present additional arguments. But on Monday, the decision was deferred again.
On November 10, 2002, police recovered Tinni’s body from under China-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge over the Buriganga River. A case was filed with Keraniganj Police Station on the same day over the incident.
Following the incident, police arrested Tinni's former husband Shafakat Ahmed Pial and four others -- Swapan Gazi, Gazi Sharifullah Tapan, Shafiqul Islam Jewel and Somnath Saha Bappy.
However, when the Criminal Investigation Department pressed charge against Ovi in November 2008, it dropped Pial and the others.
Investigators said Ovi killed Tinni to hide his “illicit relationship” with her under wraps. According to the charge sheet, Ovi murdered her when she became persistent in her demand to give her social recognition through marriage.
Soon after the murder, Ovi moved to Canada after securing bail and challenging a 1992 trial court verdict, which sentenced him to 17 years in jail in an arms case, says the charge sheet filed with the court.
