A Dhaka court on Thursday recorded the statement of auto-rickshaw puller Kamal Hossain, in whose rickshaw Inqilab Moncho spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi was travelling when assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on him.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam recorded the statement after police produced him before the court and requested that the statement be recorded.

According to the petition, Kamal Hossain was an eyewitness to the scene when Hadi was shot. Therefore, recording his statement is necessary for a fair investigation.

On 12 December, Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of Inqilab Moncho and a prospective independent candidate from the Dhaka-8 constituency, was shot and critically injured on Box Culvert Road in the capital’s Paltan area.

Later, upon reviewing CCTV footage from the surrounding area, it was found that while Sharif Osman Hadi and his associate were travelling in a battery-run auto-rickshaw, two unidentified assailants arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire on Osman Hadi with the intent to kill.

Osman Hadi was critically injured in the shooting and was first taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he underwent surgery. He was later transferred to Evercare Hospital. On December 15, he was flown to Singapore for advanced treatment, where he died on 18 December.

Police later claimed that after reviewing the footage, they identified Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Sheikh as the attackers, with Faisal firing the shots and Alamgir driving the motorcycle.

On 14 December, Abdullah Al Jaber, member secretary of Inqilab Moncho, filed a case with Paltan Model Police Station over the incident.