A court in Dhaka today (on Monday) set January 15 to hold a cognizance hearing on the charge-sheet filed in connection with the murder of Inqilab Mancha spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam passed the order as complainant Inqilab Mancha Member Secretary Abdullah Al Zaber appointed a lawyer today and pleaded for time to examine the charge-sheet filed on January 6.

Investigating Officer (IO) Inspector Foysal Ahmed of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police submitted the charge-sheet against 17 accused, including alleged shooter Foysal Karim Masud and his parents Humayun Kabir and Hashi Begum. Of them, 11 have been arrested so far and are now in jail. Six of the accused, including Foysal, are yet to be arrested.

The IO also named 77 people, including Hadi's brother Omar Bin Hadi and Inqilab Mancha Member Secretary Abdullah Al Zaber, as witnesses in the charge-sheet.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam received the charge-sheet on January 7. The court also issued a notice on January 8, asking the complainant to appear before it today to inform whether there is any objection to the charge-sheet submitted by the IO.

The six fugitive accused are Foysal Karim Masud, his accomplice Alamgir Hossain, alleged mastermind and former ward councilor Taijul Islam Chowdhury Bappi, Filips Smal, Mukti Akter and Jesmin Akter.

The arrested accused include alleged shooter Foysal Karim Masud's father Humayun Kabir, mother Hashi Begum, wife Shaheda Parvin Samia, brother-in-law Wahid Ahmed Shipu and alleged girlfriend Maria Akter Lima. Others arrested are Md Kabir, Nuruzzaman Nomani alias Ujjal, Civion Dew, Sanjay Chisim, Aminul Islam Raju and Abdul Hannan Foysal.

According to the case statement, Foysal Karim Masud and Alamgir Hossain opened fire on Hadi on December 12 while riding a motorcycle as he was travelling in a battery-run rickshaw, before fleeing the scene.

Inqilab Mancha Member Secretary Abdullah Al Zaber filed the case with Paltan Model Police Station on December 14.

Following Hadi's death on December 18, the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Siddiq Azad on December 20 ordered the addition of Section 302 (murder) of the Penal Code to the case, which had initially been filed as an attempted murder.