Verdict in Pabna set for tomorrow
A Pabna court has set July 3 (tomorrow) for delivering verdict in a case filed for carrying out an attack on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Pabna’s Ishwardi 25 years ago, when she was leader of the opposition.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Rustom Ali yesterday set the date after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence counsels, said Akhtaruzzaman Mukta, public prosecutor (PP).
On September 23 in 1994, during the tenure of a BNP-led government, crude bombs were hurled and gunshots were fired on a train carrying then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina as she reached Pakshey Railway Station in Ishwardi during her rally tour on train from Khulna to Rajshahi.
The next day, Nazrul Islam, then officer-in-charge of Ishwardi Police Station, filed a case accusing five individuals, and within a month, police hastily submitted the case’s final report.
The court rejected the report later that year and asked Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to reinvestigate into the case, the PP said.
On April 4, 1997, CID in its charge sheet accused 52 leaders and activists of BNP and its allied parties for the attack. All the accused later secured bail from the court and five of them died till date.
Referring to the statements from witnesses and evidences they had produced, the prosecution has prayed for maximum punishment for the attackers, the PP also said.
Defence counsel Advocate Masud Khandaker said they prayed for acquittal of the accused as the prosecution failed to prove the case against them.
Thirty of the 52 accused were present before the court during the arguments. The 30 accused were sent to jail on Sunday when the same court rejected their bail pleas.
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