The two bombs that went off at the Ramna Batamul during Pahela Baishakh celebrations in 2001 had been planted early in the morning, dodging the eyes of the law enforcers, the court in its verdict said yesterday.
The Bangla New Year celebrations began at sunrise, and as per the confessional statements of the convicts, the bombs were planted around 4:30am.
The bombs were detonated by remote controls or other timed devices. One of the bombs went off around 8:05am while the other went off after 10-15 minutes.
The attackers did not have any particular target person or group. It was only carried out to attack the Bengali culture, to pollute the cultural arena and stop cultural activities in the country, the judge observed.
The court made this observation after perusal of the confessional statements of three convicts – Maulana Akbar Hossain alias Helal Uddin, Mufti Abdul Hannan and Arif Hasan Suman – who are among the eight Huji men awarded death sentences yesterday.
In his confessional statement, Suman said Tajuddin (the brother of BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu) had called him to his residence at Ali and Noor Estate in the capital’s Mohammadpur a day before Pahela Baishakh. Tajuddin was a tenant at Suman’s house.
“He introduced me to three youths who were with him and asked me to take them to the Ramna Batamul to inspect the place. We went there and observed the place,” Suman said.
According to the plan, the next day Suman and the youths named Johnny, Jewel and Sujan, hired a taxi and went to the Shahbagh area around 4am. They were carrying a locally-made time bomb and a remote-controlled bomb in the car.
“After getting out of the car, three of us, excepting Johnny, walked to the nearby Ramna Batamul. Police members checked our body during that time,” Suman said.
Johnny was in the car, watching the bombs and the car soon reached the programme spot. He got out of the car with the bombs and other materials. Suman continued talking to the police who were checking his body, keeping them busy. “By that time, Johnny and Sujan had planted the bombs beneath the ground,” said Suman.
After the blasts, even though Jewel and Johnny had returned, Sujan could not be traced, Suman said in his confessional statement.
