A Dhaka court on Tuesday deferred the hearing on charge framing in the Barapukuria coal mine graft case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and six others.
Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Special Judge Court-2, established in Dhaka Keraniganj Central Jail, deferred the hearing.
Earlier, Tuesday was fixed for the hearing on charge framing in the case.
Khaledas lawyer Advocate Zia Uddin Zia submitted a time petition on behalf of his client mentioning that she is ill.
The court granted the petition and fixed the next date for charge hearing on August 5.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on February 26 in 2008 filed the graft case against Khaleda Zia and 15 others with Shahbagh Police Station.
ACC Deputy Director Md Abul Kashem Fakir on October 5 in 2008 submitted a charge-sheet in the case.
They were accused of causing a loss of around Tk 159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for operation of Barapukuria Coalmine to a Chinese company through abuse of power.
Of the initial 16 accused, convicted war criminals Nizami and Mojaheed have been hanged, and seven others had died of natural causes, and their names were dropped from the case during earlier hearings on several occasions.
Now the seven accused are Khaleda Zia, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Md Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Moajjem Hossain, Nazrul Islam and Moinul Ahsan.
