Bangladesh News

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday submitted supplementary charge sheets of two cases filed in connection with the grenade attack on the British high commissioner at the shrine of Hajrat Shahjalal (RA) in Sylhet in 2004.

Inspector Zobayer Ahmed of the CID filed the separate charge sheets with the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court last evening accusing Hurkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) leader Abu Zandal, also known as Mufti Mainuddin and Masum Billah Khaza, of delivering the grenades for the attack.

Zandal, son of Nurul Islam of Amdanga under Lohagara upazila of Narail, is in a jail in the capital in another case. He was captured a few weeks ago in Dhaka and grenades were recovered from his possession.

Zobayer, the investigation officer, told The Daily Star that although charge sheets of the cases were submitted earlier, further investigation was carried out after the confessional statement of Huji leader Mufti Abdul Hannan, the prime accused.

During quizzing, Hannan admitted that Zandal provided the grenades through Huji operatives Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain Ripon, Zobayer added.

The murder case, filed in connection with the grenade attack, is under trial at the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal while the arms and explosives case is under trial at the Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court.

Depositions of 53 prosecution witnesses have already been recorded in the murder case while six gave depositions in the second case.

The district judge of Sylhet on July 12 last year acquitted 20 of the accused people as their names were dropped from the charge sheet. They were arrested from the shrine area after the attack.

Three people were killed and Bangladesh-born British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury along with 70 others were hurt in the grenade attack that took place after the Juma prayers on May 21, 2004 at Hajrat Shahjalal (RA) in Sylhet.

Special Branch of Police (SB) Assistant Sub-inspector Kamal Uddin, Habibur Rahman Habib and college student Zobayer Ahmed Rubel were killed in the attack.

Days after the incident, the investigation of the cases was transferred to the CID as police failed to find any clues.

The CID’s Senior ASP Munshi Atiqur Rahman filed two charge sheets accusing four people–Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, his brother Mofizur Rahman and Huji operatives Delwar Hossain Ripon and Sharif Shahedul Alam alias Bipul on June 9, 2007.