The AL will take up a 500-page investigation report, prepared by a three-member committee headed by AL Joint Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, for action when the AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) sits in a crucial meeting in Dhaka this morning.

Party chief Sheikh Hasina, who will chair the 73-member ALCWC meeting at the new AL office in Dhanmondi, is expected to listen to the views of frontline leaders about the 'third force' on the political stage.

A formal support to the leftists-called Saturday's hartal is also likely to figure on the meeting agenda.

The AL formed the probe body in June this year to investigate the allegations against Hazari, who hogged the headlines for crimes in Feni blamed on 'his gang' during the AL rule and is pegged as one of the main instruments in the party's debacle in the October 2001 ballot.

The expulsion move comes at a time when the main opposition party is smarting from internal feuds, largely fuelled by its godfather-famed former leaders.

The probe against Hazari, a fugitive from justice, was ordered after his backers last May marred an extended meeting of Feni district AL, attended by central leaders including General Secretary Abdul Jalil and Organising Secretary Saber Hossain Chowdhury.

The probe report, likely to bring Hazari's 'notorious past' to light, is being opened amid AL's move to form a new party committee in Feni by mid-January as part of its plan to hold councils in all thana and district units.

Legislator Bir Bahadur and Fazle Rabbi are also on the probe body that talked to party leaders and workers in Feni and victims of Hazari's alleged atrocities. Journalist Tipu Sultan, tormented by Hazari's men, submitted a statement to the probe body.

The Amnesty International and French Embassy in Dhaka voluntarily provided reports linking Hazari to Tipu's suffering.

After Hazari's sidekicks marred the AL meeting in Feni on May 31, an ALCWC meeting on June 4 suspended 19 leaders of the party and its front organisations on Feni district units.

Hazari escaped immediate punishment as the ALCWC resolved to commission the investigation.

Hazari, who has been accused in 40 cases since 1968, is currently awaiting trial in 16 criminal cases.

He was awarded life imprisonment, along with an accomplice, in an arms case on August 10.

The joint forces of army and police raided Hazari's house in Feni in his absence on August 17, 2001 during the caretaker government and seized huge arms and ammunition.

Hazari is at large since the raid.