Verdict in CPB bomb blast case tomorrow

The verdict in a case -- filed over bomb blasts at a CPB rally in 2001 -- against 12 members of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji) will be delivered tomorrow.

Judge Md Robiul Alam of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka will announce its verdict at 10:30am, court sources said.

Earlier on December 1 last year, the court fixed the date after conclusion of arguments from the prosecution and the defence.

During the trial, the court recorded statements of 46 prosecution witnesses including complainant of the case.

Five people were killed and 50 others injured following the bomb attack at a rally of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) at the capital's Paltan Maidan on January 20, 2001.

Later, the then CPB president Monzurul Ahsan Khan filed a case with Paltan Police Station accusing unknown people in connection with the incident.

Investigation Officer CID Inspector Mrinal Kanti Saha submitted two charge sheets to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka on November 27 of 2013.

One was filed for killing five people and injuring 50 others while another was filed under the Explosive Substances Act.

According to the charge sheets, the accused carried out the attacks on the pretext that the CPB members were "atheists".

Of the 13 accused, Huji chief Mufti Hannan was executed on grenade attacks on British High Commissioner in Sylhet and Mufti Mainuddin Sheikh, Arif Hassan Sumon, Maulana Sabbir Ahmed, Maulana Shawkat Osman and Md Moshiur Rahman are currently behind bars while Mufti Abdul Hai, Shafiqur Rahman, Jahangir Alam Badar, Md Nur Islam, Mohibul Mustakin, Anisur Rahman and Rafiqul Alam Miraj have been absconding since the incident.

Trial of the case filed under the Explosive Substances Act is going on in the same court.

Soon after the blasts, police arrested 12 people but the CID, in its final investigation report submitted on December 17, 2003, cleared the arrestees of the charges as no "correct, impartial and reliable" evidence was found against them.

Later the home ministry ordered a reinvestigation into the incident following an application submitted by the CID in 2005.