CID offered my son house for false testimony: Joj’s mother

Joj Mia was offered a house on a five-kantha land during the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami regime for testifying in court accepting responsibilities for the Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack, his mother Jobeda Khatun has claimed.

She made the startling information while being cross-examined by the defence counsel on Monday at Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 in the sensational cases.

At least 24 people were killed and over a hundred others were injured in the Aug 21 attack on an Awami League rally aimed at eliminating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was then the opposition leader.

Two cases -- one over the murders and the other for the use of explosives – were filed over the incident.

Jobeda appeared as the 102nd prosecution witness on Sept 8.

The court has fixed Tuesday for continuing cross-examination of the 70-year old by the defence.

Special prosecutor Abu Abdullah Bhuiyan said Joj Mia and his sister ‘Khorsheda’ could not testify as the defence had not finished questioning their mother.

Jobeda told the court that CID officers Ruhul Amin and Abdur Rashid used to give them Tk 2,000 every month as a reward for Joj Mia’s false testimony.

The former CID officers, who investigated the cases during the BNP-Jamaat government, are accused in the cases.

When defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafdar challenged Jobeda’s claim, she said, “Not only that, they offered me a house on a five-kantha land.”

Joj Mia was arrested on June 9, 2005 from Noakhali for his alleged involvement in the 2004 attack.

The CID filed chargesheet in 2008 after getting ‘confessional statement’ from him.

Further investigations revealed that the BNP-Jamaat government tried to make Joj Mia a scapegoat to divert the case.

He was released in 2009 after the court acquitted him of the charges.

The CID filed a supplementary chargesheet implicating 30 others, including BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, Jamaat’s Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, on July 3, 2011 at the court’s order.

Joj Mia, his mother and sister have been named witnesses in the cases.