The government has open measures to bring back 18 fugitive suspects of the 2004 grenade attack as the trial nears its end with the verdict expected possibly by October.
The attack on Aug 21 that year was carried out on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue during the BNP-Jamaat’s regime.
The then-leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina was the leading speaker at the rally.
She was stepping off the truck, which was being used as a dais when the assailants hurled the grenades into the rally. Investigators said 13 to 14 grenades were detonated on the day.
Among the 24 people killed in the blasts was Bangladesh Mohila Awami League president Ivy Rahman, wife of senior Awami League leader Zillur Rahman, who was later to be elected the country’s president. The attack left Sheikh Hasina with hearing problems.
Late Dhaka mayor Mohammad Hanif was among over 500 injured in the explosions.
“We have tracked down nine of the 18 fugitive suspects abroad and took a multi-dimensional approach to bring them back,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told BSS.
The process to involve the Interpol to locate the rest of the suspect was on, he said.
The minister’s comments came as the case’s chief prosecutor Advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman said they expected the trial process to be wrapped up “soon” while 18 out of 52 charge-sheeted accused in the case being tried in absentia.
A total of 52 people have been charged in two cases over the attack — one over the killings and the other under the Explosives Act.
“Eighteen suspects have been tried as fugitives,” Rahman said before adding 26 are behind bars while the remaining eight on bail.
The key suspect in the case is BNP’s Senior Vice Chairman and Tarique Rahman, now living in London.
Intelligence officials familiar with the process substantiated Home Minister Khan’s comments detailing the whereabouts of the eight other fugitives — two former Bangladesh Army officers, two former police officers, a former BNP lawmaker and three operatives of militant outfit Harkat-ul Jihad (HuJI).
An official preferring anonymity told BSS fugitive HuJI operatives Tajuddin Ahmed and his younger brother Ratul Babu have been located in South Africa while ex-BNP MP Kazi Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad in Saudi Arabia.
Intel suggested that suspect Haris Chowdhury, who was the then-special assistant to PM Khaleda Zia, was shifting locations; he was traced in the UK, US, Malaysia, Singapore and India.
Ex-major general ATM Amin and ex-lt col Saiful Islam Joarder are now in the UAE while two others
Suspects Mohibul Mustakin and Anisul Mursalin are now in the Tihar jail in India.
Citing sources in intelligence agencies, BSS reported that whereabouts of HuJI militants Shafikur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hai, Abu Bakar, Iqbal, Khalilur Rahman, Jahangir Alam alias Badar, Liton alias Zobair alias Delwar and former senior police officers Md Obaidur Rahman and Khan Syed Hasan are yet to be known.
Of the remaining suspects in the case, Jamaat leader and former minister Ali Ahasan Md Mojaheed has been executed for 1971 war crimes while HuJi chief Mufti Hannan and his aide Shahidul Alam Bipul have walked to the gallows for the 2004 grenade attack in Sylhet targeting the then-British envoy.
The investigation into the attack during the BNP-led government was diverted to other directions.
The first three investigation officers are accused of attempts to divert the investigation by showing a vagabond, ‘Joj Mia’, as the attacker.
Mia is a witness of the case now.
The military-backed caretaker government of 2007-8 ordered a fresh investigation.
On Jun 9, 2008, police submitted charge sheet against Harkat-ul Jihad Al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI, B) leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and 21 others.
The cases were sent to the Speedy Trial Tribunal later that year.
After the Awami League formed the government in 2009, a supplementary charge sheet naming 30 people were submitted in the court in July 2011. They included BNP Senior Vice-Chairman and Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman, her political secretary Harris Chowdhury, former minister and Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, former deputy minister Pintu, and former MP Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad.
Investigators said in the supplementary chargesheet that the-then PM Khaleda Zia’s political office Hawa Bhaban played a part in the attack.
It said influential people linked to the Hawa Bhaban gave HuJI and top officials of several state agencies the assignment.