DHAKA: A special court in Bangladesh on Sunday indicted detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and two of her relatives in connection with an extortion case.
Judge Aziz-ul-Haq framed charges against Awami League chief Hasina, her expatriate younger sister Sheikh Rehana and cousin and former health minister Sheikh Selim after several days of hearing and fixed January 17 for next hearing to record witnesses' statement.
"I never took a single penny in my life," Hasina said in an emotionally-choked voice. The Awami League chief is charged with extorting about Taka 3 crore from businessman Azam J Chowdhury during her tenure in 1996-2001 after threatening him with cancellation of his power project.
Hasina has alleged that she was given proposals to stay abroad to evade the charges when she was outside the country several months ago.
She recently charged that the military-backed Bangladesh government was trying to bar her from contesting the parliamentary polls by framing her in the extortion case and demanded general elections in the country within six months.
Hasina has been lodged in a temporary sub-jail at parliament complex since her arrest on July 16 last year.
