Dhaka: A Dhaka court on Thursday ordered police to investigate allegations brought against former President Ziaur Rahman and Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a defamation case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Raihanul Islam asked Tejgaon Police Station officer-in-charge to investigate the matter.

AB Siddiqui, president of Jananetri Parishad, filed the case making Zia a posthumous accused in the case.

According to the complaint, Ziaur Rahman grabbed power on November 7 after the brutal killings of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August 15, 1975.

"Despite being a freedom fighter, Ziaur Rahman has stigmatized the duty of a freedom fighter. He threatened Sheikh Hasina on her return to country on May 17, 1981 and kept her confined. He threatened independent Bangladesh, its history by such activities," the complainant said.

In his allegation against BNP chairperson, Siddiqui said Khaleda formed government with anti-liberation and war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami.

"She gave country's flag to war criminals by making them ministers. She has tarnished the image and honor of the country," he said.