Jamal Ahmed, widely known as Joj Mia, claimed with accomplishment that he was one of the masterminds behind the August 21 grenade attack, has reached a Dhaka court along with his mother and sister to testify in the case.
Defence lawyers are cross examining his mother Jobeda Khatun at a special court in front of the Central Jail in August 21 grenade attack case.
Judge Mohammad Shahed Nur Uddin of Dhaka's first Speedy Trial Tribunal is recording the cross-examination.
Earlier, the court fixed September 15 and 16 to end the cross-examination and take new witness.
Joj Mia and his sister are set to deliver their statements. Their depositions will be recorded following their mother’s cross-examination.
On August 21, 2004, a grenade attack during an Awami League rally, 24 people were killed and 300 others injured while then leader of opposition Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped.
Low-profile criminal Joj Mia confessed before a magistrate on June 26, 2005 alleging an underworld gang, Seven-Star Group, led by Subrata Bain Shuvro, carried out the grenade attack.
Joj Mia admitted to CID officials that he was one of the attackers and told the magistrate that the 14-member group had met at Robin’s house in Moghbazar several days before the attack.
On instructions from Lutfozzaman Babar, then the minister of home affairs, the CID officials cooked up the Joj Mia story to derail the investigation into a different path.
Further investigations reveled that the attack was not a task of Joj Mia and the Seven Star Group, rather an outcome of collaboration between militant group Huji, influential leaders of the then ruling BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, along with a band of senior officials in the government machinery, including the home ministry, police, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).