RAB arrests ex-HuJI chief Mufti Hai, condemned to death for Ramna bomb attack, Hasina murder plot

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested Mufti Abdul Hai, a fugitive militant and a top leader of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, or HuJI, who was sentenced to death for a conspiracy to kill Sheikh Hasina and the Ramna Batamul bombing.

ANM Imran Khan, a spokesman for the RAB, said Hai was arrested at Fatullah in Narayanganj on Wednesday.

Earlier on Apr 14, the elite police unit arrested Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, another HuJI leader who was sentenced to death over the Ramna bombing. It said Shafiqur took up jobs at madrasas and mosques under a pseudonym in a bid to evade arrest.

Details about Hai were not immediately available.

Ten people were killed after a bomb exploded during cultural troupe Chhayanaut’s Bangla New Year programme at the capital’s Ramna Batamul on the morning of Apr 14, 2001.

According to the case dossier, Islamist militants targeted the Pahela Boishakh event as they considered it ‘anti-Islamic’.

Mufti Abdul Hannan, a top leader of HuJI, Shafiqur, Hai and 11 other militants were accused in the murder case filed over the bomb attack.

A Dhaka court on Jun 23, 2014 sentenced to death Hannan, Shafiqur, Hai and five other accused and gave life imprisonment to six others in the case.

The others who got the capital punishment were Maulana Akbar Hossain, Arif Hasan Sumon, Maulana Tajuddin, Hafiz Jahangir Alam Badr, and Maulana Abu Bakr alias Hafiz Selim Hawladar.

Tajuddin, Jahangir and Abu Bakr are still absconding.

Hai has also been sentenced to death in a case over a conspiracy to assassinate Hasina by planting two 76 kg bombs in Gopalganj's Kotalipara.

In 2000, police found the bombs in a school field at Kotalipara where Hasina, on her first term as prime minister, was scheduled to address an election campaign rally.

The bombs were discovered while a rally stage was being set up on the Sheikh Lutfur Rahman College ground in Kotalipara, the electoral seat of the Awami League chief. Hasina was expected to address the rally two days later.

After the discovery of the bombs, three cases were filed: an attempted murder, a conspiracy to assassinate the prime minister and sedition and the use of explosives.

On Aug 20, 2017, the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 sentenced 10 people to death in this case. Four accused were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment.

The convicts who received the death sentence are Wasim Akter alias Tarek Hossain, Md Rashed driver alias Abul Kalam, Md Yusuf alias Abu Musa Harun, Sheikh Farid alias Moulana Showkat Osman, Hafiz Jahangir Alam Badr, Maulana Abu Bakr alias Hafiz Selim Hawladar, Hafiz Md Yahia, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hai and Moulana Abdur Rouf alias Abu Omar.

Among them, Yusuf alias Abu Musa Harun and Hafiz Jahangir Alam Badr are still absconding.