The verdict of Ramna Batamul blast cases of 2001 is expected before Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year, about 13 years after the carnage that left 10 people dead and scores of others injured.
“The nation will celebrate the upcoming Bengali New Year with much more festivity as the verdict of Ramna Batamul blast cases will be delivered before Pahela Baishakh this year,” Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Mohammad Abdullah Abu told BSS yesterday.
“Arguments on different legal points are going on and some more days would be needed to complete those and after that the verdict will be handed down,” he said.
“Eighty-four people were made witnesses in the two cases and the court has recorded depositions of 62 witnesses since the trial began in 2009,” he said, adding, “We will not record depositions of the remaining witnesses, as most of them, mainly key witnesses gave their depositions, in a bid to complete the trial as soon as possible.” Ten people were killed and many others injured in a blast on a Bangla New Year celebration at the Ramna Batamul on April 14, 2001 and after a delayed investigation process, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police on December 30 in 2008 submitted charge sheet.
A total of 14 Islamist militants belonging to Harkatul Jihad (HuJI) including the chief of the banned outfit Mufti Abdul Hannan were named in the charge sheet.
“Five of the 14 accused are on the run and one is on bail while the rest are in jail to face the trial,” the public prosecutor said. The other operatives of the outfit named in the charge sheet were Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Moulana Yahiya, Mufti Abdul Hye, Moulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Moulana Mohammad Tajuddin, Moulana Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Arif Hasan Suman, Moulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Abdur Rouf, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar and Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel.
They are facing two cases – one for murder and one under explosives act. For quick disposal, the government had sent the cases to Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 and Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 respectively on September 23, 2009. The speedy tribunals failed to dispose of the cases within 145 days as per the law, resulting in shifting of the cases to regular courts.
