9 bags of missing case documents recovered from Ctg court, 1 detained

Police recovered nine bags of missing case documents, known as Case Dockets (CDs), from the Chattogram court area last night (8 January).

One individual, identified as Russell, has been detained in connection with the incident.

Kotwali police station's Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdul Karim confirmed today (9 January) and said, "The recovery was part of an investigation into the disappearance of 1,911 case files related to serious offences such as murder, drug smuggling, and explosions."

"The nine recovered sacks contained some of the missing documents," he said. 

The case came to light after Public Prosecutor (PP) Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan of the Chattogram City Sessions Judge's Court filed a general diary (GD) at Kotwali police station last Sunday.

The GD reported that the documents had gone missing from the balcony of the Metropolitan PP's office during the court's vacation in December.

According to the GD, the documents, which pertain to 1,911 cases, were stored in plastic sacks and wrapped in polythene on the office's front balcony due to space constraints. 

They had been kept there since 24 April 2023. The files were last accounted for on 13 December, but by 31 December, after the court reopened, the documents were found missing despite extensive searches.

The metropolitan PP's office is located on the third floor of the Chattogram court building, adjacent to the courtrooms of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge and Khaskamara. While the building remains bustling with lawyers and litigants during the day, it is largely deserted in the evenings.