Rangpur: A court here on Tuesday framed charges against seven members of banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in a case filed for killing Japanese citizen Hoshi kunio.

Judge of the Special Judge’s Court Naresh Chandra Sarkar passed the order in the presence of five of the accused, fixing January 4 for the formal trial to begin with the disposition of witnesses, reports UNB.

Officer-in-charge of Kaunia Police Station Abdul Kadar Zilani, also the investigation of the case, submitted a charge-sheet against eight JMB men on July 10 in the murder case.

Of them, Masud Rana, Ishak Ali, Liton Miah, Abu Sayeed and Sakhwat Hossain are now in jail while Saddam Hossain and Ahsanullah Ansari have been on the run and Nazrul Islam was killed in a gunfight in Rajshahi.

Hoshi Kunio, 65, was gunned down by unknown assailants near his farmhouse at Kachu Alutary in Kaunia upazila on October 3 last year.