After 13 years, police have made progress in unravelling the mystery behind a grenade recovered from Old Central Jail around the time of the August 21, 2004 attack in the Gulistan area of the capital.
CID and the jail authorities have said a report submitted to the Home Ministry mentions that the grenade was thrown from outside the Central Jail in the wake of the attack on then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina at a Awami League rally on nearby Bangabandhu Avenue.
A cleaner named Mintu was the first to notify the authorities after spotting a grenade near a drain between Central Jail cells 26 and 90. An army bomb disposal team recovered an Arges type HG 84 grenade and handed it over to Chawkbazar police.
After the grenade was recovered, a prison guard named Sohel Mondol went into hiding. Later, Tk200,000 was recovered from his room.
Although no case was lodged at the time, prison authorities dismissed the then Deputy Jailer Enamul Kabir, Chief Prison Guard Abdul Wahed and some other officials.
A case was later filed with Chakbazar police station and is currently being investigated along with other cases from the August 21 attack by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police.
“We are investigating the case and have made progress. We will soon hand over the charge sheet,” CID’s Special Superintendent (SS) Abdul Kaharn Akand said.
Several members of the banned militant group Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HujiB), including its leader Mufti Hannan, were arrested and later hanged in connection to August 21 grenade attack.
This article was first published on Bangla Tribune
Thursday, June 04, 2026
