HC order submission in Ramna blast case on Apr 22

A Dhaka court on Thursday fixed April 22 as the next date for submission of a High Court order in a case of a bomb blast at Ramna Batamul during Bangla New Year celebration on April 14, 2001, which killed 10 people and injured over 50 others.

Judge Ruhul Amin of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka fixed the date.

The High Court order was supposed to be submitted to the lower court on Thursday.

But defense counsel Advocate Faruk Ahmed filed a petition with the court on the day seeking another date for the submission of the High Court order stating that they had filed a writ petition with the High Court on Wednesday challenging the lower court order.

The court accepted the petition and fixed April 22 as the next date for submission of the High Court order in the case.

Earlier on April 2, on behalf of the defence, the court was informed that they would challenge the decision of the court to once again summon the investigation officer of the case to the court.

Later the court deferred the next hearing date till April 10.

On October 23 last year, the court completed recording of the statements of prosecution witnesses in the case.

The court has already recorded the statements of 61 out of 84 witnesses.

The court recorded depositions of 61 prosecution witnesses, including Investigation Officer Abu Hena Mohammad Yusuf, out of 84 witnesses in the case.

Seven years after the incident, investigators found Harkat-ul- Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI)’s link to the blast. Criminal Investigation Department inspector Abu Hena Mohammad Yusuf submitted the supplementary charge sheet in the case to the court against 14 accused on Nov 29, 2008.

Later, the court framed charges against HuJI chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and his 13 associates on April 16, 2009.

The charge-sheeted accused are Mufti Abdul Hannan, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Maulana Yahiya, Mufti Abdul Hye, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abu Bakar, 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, Tajuddin, Jahangir Alam, Mufti Abdul Hye, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman and Maulana Abu Bakar are still at large.

Babupura Police Outpost sergeant Amal Chandra filed the case with the Ramna Police Station over the bomb blasts on April 15.