The court has accepted the charges against 39 individuals, including ISKCON leader and spokesperson of the Sanatani Jagaran Jote, Chinmoy Krishna Das, in the murder case of Supreme Court and Chittagong Court lawyer Saiful Islam Alif.
On Monday, August 25, Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate S.M. Alauddin approved the charges following a hearing on the acceptability of the charge sheet submitted by the investigating officer.
Alif’s father and the case plaintiff, Jamal Uddin, was present during the hearing.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Advocate Md. Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury, representing the plaintiff, informed the court that three individuals were exempted due to lack of involvement in the investigation report, and one person was exempted due to insufficient identification details.
He highlighted, however, that Sukanta Dutta—an accused in eight other cases including arms, drugs, theft, and robbery—was identified in the investigation report as being linked to the murder.
Raihanul added that post-incident photos show Dutta alongside the main perpetrators, and therefore he should remain an accused. The court accepted this request.
The court formally accepted the charge sheet against 39 accused, including Sukanta Dutta, and ordered arrest warrants for the fugitives.
Previously, on August 10, the court had issued a summons for the plaintiff to be present for a report hearing. In line with that order, Jamal Uddin appeared in court on Monday and confirmed he would not file objections regarding the identified accused.
Currently, 20 of the accused, including Chinmoy Krishna Das, are in custody, while 19 remain at large.
The charge sheet names the accused as Chandan Das Methor, Ripon Das, Rajib Bhattacharyya, Shubh Kanti Das, Aman Das, Bunja, Ronob, Bidhan, Bikash, Romit Prokash Das, Rumit Das, Nayon Das, Omkar Das, Bishal, Lala Das, Samir, Sohel Das, Shiv Kumar, Biglal, Parash, Ganesh, Om Das, Poppy, Ajay, Debi Charan, Deb, Joy, Lala Methor, Durlabh Das, Sumit Das, Sonu Das, Soku Das, Bhajan, Ashik, Shahit, Shiba Das, and Deep Das.
The murder occurred on November 26 last year amid clashes over the bail of Chinmoy Krishna Das. During the violence, Saiful Islam Alif was brutally beaten and stabbed to death.
Following the incident, Jamal Uddin filed a murder case naming 31 individuals, while five additional cases were filed related to attacks on police, obstruction of duties, and assaults on lawyers and litigants, including incidents involving grenade explosions.
