Counsels of four accused in August 21 grenade attack case finished cross examining former Rab official Maj (retd) Atiqur Rahman, the 72nd prosecution witness, at the Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 Tuesday.
With them, total 14 accused have finished cross examining the prosecution witness.
Later in the afternoon, lawyer of accused BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu began questioning the witness in the carnage case. The court fixed today to complete the cross-examination.
Atiqur was serving as a deputy director at the Rab headquarters from October 2004 to June 2009. He had led the Rab team that arrested Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (Huji) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan on October 1, 2005.
Abdus Sobhan Tarafder, counsel of former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, asked the witness whether he knew that the accused was not happy after the law enforcement agencies had arrested Mufti Hannan. He replied: ”Yes.”
Atiqur earlier in his deposition said former director of Rab’s intelligence wing late Col Gulzar had told him about Babar’s dissatisfaction. But he kept on trying to capture Maulana Tajuddin, brother of Abdus Salam Pintu, who brought Arges grenades from Pakistan for the attack.
At one stage, Gulzar asked Atiqur to stop searching since Babar had told them that Tajuddin himself would appear. But it did not happen, Atiqur told the court. He later came to know that Tajuddin had been sent abroad as per directive of Brig Gen ATM Amin and under the supervision of Lt Col Saiful Islam, who was a DGFI official at that time.
Tuesday, the defence lawyer asked him why he had mentioned Gulzar’s name frequently in his deposition.
In reply, Atiqur said he obeyed Gulzar’s order as he had been the head of the department. Gulzar was well-informed than him, the witness added.
