TDS Desk

A DNA test conducted on the remains exhumed from a grave identified as Mahmudur Rahman has matched the family of BNP leader Abul Harris Chowdhury, prompting the High Court to permit the late politician’s family to bury his remains in a graveyard of their choice.

A High Court bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Mubina Asaf issued the order on Wednesday following the submission of the DNA report.

Barrister Mahdin Chowdhury represented the petitioner during the hearing.

Earlier, on September 5, the High Court ordered the exhumation of the body buried under the name Mahmudur Rahman at the Jamia Khatamun Nabiyeen Madrasa graveyard in Savar to ascertain its identity via DNA testing.

The directive was given to the CID director following a writ petition filed by Harris Chowdhury’s daughter, Barrister Samira Tanzin.

The court sought explanations on several points in its rule: why the body should not be exhumed for DNA testing to identify Abul Harris Chowdhury; why, upon a positive DNA match, a death certificate in his name should not be issued; why an Interpol red notice against him should not be withdrawn; and why his body should not be buried in his home district with due honours as a freedom fighter, respecting his last wishes.

The court directed the secretaries of the ministries of home and local government, the registrar general, the CID director, the superintendent of police of Dhaka district, and the office-in-charge of Savar model police station to respond to the rule.

According to media reports from 2021, Abul Harris Chowdhury, former political secretary to ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia, was buried under the name Mahmudur Rahman in a madrasa graveyard in Jalalabad, Savar, on September 4 of that year.

After the latest court ruling, Harris Chowdhury’s daughter expressed her anguish over the situation, accusing the erstwhile government and intelligence agencies of fabricating a narrative to question her father’s death.

“The media kept publishing reports casting doubt on his demise. It is heartbreaking and painful as a child to hear people ask, ‘Did he really die?’ This petition was filed to put an end to the uncertainty. The court has not disappointed us,” she said.

After the declaration of a state of emergency in 2007, Harris Chowdhury fled his Sylhet home and reportedly crossed into India via the Zakiganj border. He allegedly stayed at his maternal grandparents’ house in Assam’s Karimganj district and travelled abroad from there.

In 2015, Interpol issued a red notice against him for his alleged involvement in the August 21 grenade attack case, where he was later sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018.

That same year, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Tk10 lakh in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

Police also submitted an investigation report against him in the murder of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria. The trial of that case is ongoing.