The much-awaited verdict in sensational Ramna Batamul killing case is set to be pronounced today, 13 years after the bomb blasts which killed at least 10 people during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations.
Judge Ruhul Amin of the Dhaka’s Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court will hand down the verdict around noon.
However, verdict in other case, involving explosives, is uncertain as a petition seeking the Supreme Court registrar’s opinion is still pending.
Mufti Abdul Hannan, chief of the banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji), and it’s 13 other leaders and activists are accused in the case. Hannan in a confessional statement before the magistrate said they had carried out the bomb attack as celebrating the Bangla New Year was “anti-Islamic.”
As per an order of the court oo May 28, the verdict was first set to be delivered on June 16. But the date was later revised since the judgement had not been ready.
Md Abdullah Abu, public prosecutor of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court, yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the prosecution had been able to prove the charges against the accused. He hoped that all the accused would get the capital punishment.
OC (prosecution) of the court Abu Musa Sheikh told the Dhaka Tribune that the law enforcement agencies had taken all necessary preparations to ensure security on the court premises since it was a sensational case.
During the traditional celebrations of the Bangla New Year, 1408 (April 14, 2001) at the Ramna Batamul, several blasts killed 10 people and injured around 50 others. Leading cultural platform Chhayanaut organises the event every year.
Two cases – one for killings and the other under the Explosive Substances Act – were filed with Ramna police. It took the investigators over seven years to trace Huji’s links with the attack.
Since the accused and the witnesses were same in both the cases, the Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 of Dhaka in 2009 sought the Supreme Court registrar’s opinion on whether both the cases could be tried together. The registrar is yet to respond on the matter.
The prosecution concluded its arguments on May 18. Earlier the court recorded statements of 61 out of 84 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case.
The Criminal Investigation Department on December 30, 2008 pressed charges against the 14 accused including Hanna in both the cases. The other accused are: Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Maulana Yahiya, Mufti Abdul Hye, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Maulana Mohammad Tajuddin, Maulana Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Arif Hasan Suman, Maulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Maulana Abu Taher, Maulana Abdur Rouf, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, and Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel.
Of them, Hannan, Suman, Jewel, Abu Taher, Sheikh Farid, Sabbir, Rouf, Yahiya and Akbar are behind bars, while the others are still at large.
