Ex-Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, 6 others under murder investigation after deadly civil unrest

Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and six other high-level current or former government officials are now subject of a murder investigation over the killing of a grocery store owner stemming from the recent civil unrest.

The unrest in the capital city forced Hasina to resign and flee the country.

More than 400 civilians -- most shot by police on her order -- had been killed in the weeks of deadly unrest in the capital Dhaka. Protesters called for Hasina to resign after storming her official residence.

Hasina, following a military declaration, was replaced by Nobel Peace Price Laureate Muhammad Yunus to lead a caretaker government to re-establish stability in Bangladesh.

The other high-level officials accused along with the embattled former prime minister is the Bangladesh Awami League political party's General Secretary Obaidul Quader, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kama, the country's former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former Detective Branch Chief Harunor Rashid, former Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Habibur Rahman and the former DMP Joing Commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker.

Abu Sayed, a local grocery store owner in the Mohammadpur area of Dhaka, was killed on July 19 when he was shot in the head by police crossfire during an incident while attempting to cross a street.

Her August 5 resignation came a day after more than 90 people had been killed during clashes between anti-government student protesters and police -- 13 of whom were among those killed after thousands of people attacked a police station in the northwestern district of Sirajganj.

Hasina, who has been accused of widespread human rights abuse during her 15 years in the premiership, at the time said they were "not students but terrorists who are out to destabilize the nation."

In early July, student protesters began peaceful demands to end quotas in civil service jobs before it become a wider movement leading to Hasina's ouster when police doubled down on efforts to end demonstrations on the prime minister's order.

Government crackdown efforts across the country escalated from tear gas and rubber bullets to live fire, curfews and Internet blackouts bringing hundreds of thousands more people onto the streets demanding change and ultimately Hasina's resignation.

The case against Hasina was applied for by Amir Hamza, a local businessman who says he did not know Sayed's family but stepped up since the family did not have the money needed to file a lawsuit.

"I am the first ordinary citizen who showed the courage to take this legal step against Sheikh Hasina for her crimes," he said. "I will see the case to an end."

Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to India at a military airbase 17 miles east of Delhi.

This signals the first set of legal actions taken against Hasina since her resignation earlier this month, and under Bangladeshi law is known to be the first step in a criminal investigation.

She has remained in neighboring India, where she made her first public statement since leaving Bangladesh just hours after the case was filed against her, calling for those involved to "be identified and punished accordingly," BBC reported.

Hamza told a Bangladeshi court that students on July 19 had been holding peaceful protests when, he alleges, police indiscriminately shot at the crowd, which ultimately killed Sayed.

The lawyer who filed the case, Mamun Mia, says a Dhaka court had ordered local police to accept "the murder case against the accused persons."

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Hasina's son, has said that his mother would return to Bangladesh once elections have been declared.