BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has been exempted from three cases filed over a petrol bomb attack and arson on a covered van in Chauddagram, Comilla, in 2015.
The matter was confirmed on Monday afternoon by Comilla Public Prosecutor Md Kaimul Haque Rinku.
The cases included charges of murder and sabotage.
Rinku said the remaining accused in the cases have also been discharged following an application to withdraw the politically motivated cases filed under the previous Awami League government.
According to the district prosecutor, on February 3, 2015, eight passengers were killed in a petrol bomb attack on a bus in Jagmohanpur area of Chauddagram upazila.
Two separate cases—one under the Penal Code for murder and another under the Explosives Act—were filed by police.
BNP chief Khaleda Zia and 77 others were included in the charge sheets.
The complainant in both cases was then a police officer at Chauddagram police station, Nuruzzaman Hawlader.
During legal proceedings, the court found no evidence of Khaleda Zia’s involvement in the incidents.
Judge Shafiqul Islam of the Comilla Additional District and Sessions Judge Court-2 granted her exemption from the charges.
At the time of the incident, Khaleda Zia had been confined to her Gulshan residence by a blockade of sand trucks, which the court considered in its decision.
In a separate sabotage case, filed over the arson of a covered van in the Haidarpur area of Chauddagram on January 25, 2015, Khaleda Zia and 31 others were initially named as accused.
Later, 10 more individuals were added to the charge sheet. This case too was filed by then-sub-inspector Nuruzzaman Hawlader.
In that case, Judge Afroza Shuli of the Comilla Additional District and Sessions Judge Court-1 also acquitted Khaleda Zia due to a lack of evidence linking her to the incident.
Rinku further said that all three cases were deemed politically motivated and a request for their withdrawal had been submitted to the Law Ministry. The ministry accepted the appeal and directed that the cases be withdrawn.
“As of now, there are no cases pending at Chauddagram police station against Khaleda Zia or any central leaders of the BNP,” he added.