Ex-Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her former cabinet members and high-ranking police officials now face an additional five murder cases. The total number of cases against Hasina increases to 49.
According to the Daily Star, three of these cases were filed in Dhaka, while two others were registered in Narsingdi and Bogura.
The 76-year-old Awami League leader now faces a cumulative 49 charges, among them 40 murder charges, seven crimes against humanity and genocide, one for abduction, and one related to an attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party procession.
The new allegations include Hasina and 46 others in the killing of a street vendor during protests in Ashulia, Dhaka, on August 4. Also mentioned in the case is Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, ex-AL lawmakers Md Saiful Islam and Talukdar Mohammad Towhid Jung Murad, and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
The other case was submitted to Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate court of Mainul Islam with a charge that accused Hasina along with 32 others killed a class-XII student of Airport area at Uttara Paschim on August 5.
In yet another case, a Mohammadpur resident filed a case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury bringing an allegation against Hasina and 67 others for killing a 23-year-old in Mohammadpur on July 19.
In Narsingdi, Hasina and 81 others are charged for killing a businessman in the anti-discrimination student movement on July 19.
Also, in Bogura, Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed Putul, and 76 others are being sued over the abduction and murder of a BNP leader in Shibganj upazila in 2018.
Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 amid massive anti-government student protests against her administration's controversial job quota system. Her government was succeeded by an interim administration, with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, appointed as Chief Adviser.
Following the collapse of Hasina's government, violence erupted all over Bangladesh, killing more than 230 people, and the total death toll since the protests began in mid-July has crossed 600.
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