Sukharanjan Bali, who was allegedly abducted from the main gate of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) before he came to testify in the crimes against humanity case against Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee, filed allegations with the tribunal against 32 people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, on Thursday.
He submitted the allegations to the office of the ICT chief prosecutor this morning.
The other accused in the allegations included former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, former chairmen of ICT-1 Justice Nizamul Haque and Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, former law minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed, former state minister for law Advocate Qamrul Islam, former ICT chief prosecutor Syed Haider Ali, former prosecutor Rana Das Gupta, former coordinator of the ICT investigation agency Md Sanaul Haque, former ICT investigation officer Helal Uddin, and former lawmaker of Pirojpur-1 constituency AKM Abdul Awal.
Sukharanjan, a carpenter from village Umedpur under Parerhat union in Indurkani upazila of Pirojpur, was a listed defence witness for Sayedee.
He alleged that law-enforcing agencies picked him up on November 5, 2012, from outside the tribunal premises while he was being escorted by defence lawyers to testify.
The victim said he had earlier been summoned by ICT investigation officer Helal Uddin in mid-2010 at Parerhat Rajlokkhi School in Pirojpur, where he was allegedly pressured to falsely implicate Sayedee in the 1971 killing of his brother Bisha Bali.
"I immediately made it clear to him that Sayedee Huzur was in no way involved in the killing of my brother Bisha Bali. Therefore, I could not give false testimony against him. He started assaulting me physically for refusing to make a false statement," Sukharanjan alleged.
He said local political leaders and their followers also beat and threatened him, forcing him to go into hiding afterwards.
According to Sukharanjan, months later, Sayedee's son, Masud Sayedee, contacted him to testify truthfully before the tribunal. He came to Dhaka on November 3, 2012, but two days later, he was abducted by plainclothes men from outside the tribunal gate.
"They blindfolded me, kept me in different places, and tortured me for two months before handing me over to the Indian frontier force BSF. Policemen, along with BGB personnel, dragged me to BSF, who started beating me and later took me to their camp at Boikari Bazar in West Bengal," he alleged.
He also said he was later sent to Bashirhat Jail for 22 days, then shifted to Dumdum Jail, where he remained confined for five years.
The victim said he had to endure the ordeal only because he was willing to tell the truth.
"I saw that Delwar Hossain Sayedee was falsely implicated in the case. I know who killed my brother. But as I refused to lie, they subjected me to a harrowing ordeal for six years," Sukharanjan said.
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