Dhaka, September 4 (H.S.) : A special court in Dhaka on Thursday declined to hear a petition seeking permission to represent deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the much-discussed Purbachal land allocation scandal.

According to a report by The Daily Star, the petition was filed by lawyer Morshed Hossain Shahin, who confirmed that Judge Mohammad Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court refused to consider the plea, citing legal constraints. The court clarified that there was no scope for appointing defense counsel on behalf of the state in this particular case.

The case involves alleged irregularities in the Purbachal New Town Project, where Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, and her niece Tulip Siddiq, along with 20 others, stand accused of corruption in the allocation of residential plots.

On Thursday, the court was scheduled to record the testimony of prosecution witnesses in three corruption cases connected to the scandal. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had lodged six separate cases between January 12 and 14 at its Integrated District Office in Dhaka concerning the matter.

According to the ACC charge sheets, Sheikh Hasina allegedly colluded with senior government officials to unlawfully obtain six residential plots, each measuring 10 kathas, in the diplomatic enclave of Sector 27 of the Purbachal New Town Project.

The plots were reportedly allotted to Hasina herself, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, her daughter Saima Wazed Putul, her sister Sheikh Rehana, and Rehana’s children Radwan Mujib Siddiq (Bobby) and Azmina Siddiq Benu.

The commission maintains that all of them were ineligible for such allocations under the existing rules and regulations, making the acquisitions illegal.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar