Cops identify some masterminds
Investigators of the August 21 grenade attack believe they will find all masterminds of the incident making a departure from the tradition of other grievous crime probes where enquiries are finished with main culprits remaining unknown.
"We have identified some of the masterminds of this attack and we are still hopeful that we would be able to find the rest," Abdul Kahar Akand, investigation officer of the attack told The Daily Star yesterday.
Today is the sixth anniversary of the carnage in which 24 were killed and over 200 others maimed. On this day in 2004, grenades were hurled at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, then opposition leader, was injured and President Zillur Rahman's wife Ivy Rahman was killed.
Kahar, special superintendent of Criminal Investigation Department, said BNP's former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, arrested in connection with the August 21 grenade attack, would be accused in the charge sheet of the case.
For the sake of investigation Kahar refused give details of his findings but he did say that they have been able to track down the source of the Arges brand grenades used in the attack.
Sources involved in the probe said indications are that more big names would appear in the accused list along with men of banned Islamist outfit Harakt-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji), which executed the attack.
Kahar on October 26 last year showed Babar arrested in the August 21 case. In the forwarding report placed before the court, he said former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu during remand told interrogators that Babar lent administrative support to the attackers.
The report also said Babar and other accused in the case were involved in the supply of the grenades used.
In August last year, Kahar Akand was assigned to investigate the case after a Dhaka court ordered reinvestigation. The reinvestigation was ordered as the source of the grenades was not revealed in the first probe report submitted in 2008 by Fazlul Kabir, another investigation officer of CID.
Since he got the job, Kahar sought time for the probe five times from the court and the last extension received on August 11 would end on November 22.
A few other investigators involved in the probe said Kahar was busy with the sensational BDR carnage case, which caused delays to the August 21 enquiry.
Kahar, however, said they are trying to unearth the whole truth and that is why it was taking time.
"I can't say any specific time such as by this year, but certainly, the investigation would be complete before the seventh anniversary of the attack," he said.
Meanwhile, other sources said this is a "very sensitive" investigation as the probe is likely to reveal names of many influential people in politics and the administration who might have been involved.
"When we get the smell of bigwigs' involvement in this crime we definitely feel and face pressure in many ways, which compels us to tread carefully and that is also a cause for slow investigation progress," said an official involved in the investigation.
The official, however, said they are ignoring the pressure and are hopeful of unearthing all mysteries behind the attack.
During his probe, Kahar arrested four people, Babar, Huji founder and chief of Islamic Democratic Party Sheikh Abdus Salam, BNP man Arifur Rahman Arif, also a Dhaka City Corporation councillor for Ward-53 and Indian national Majid Butt, who belongs to Kashmir-based militant organisation Hizbul Mujahidin.
Sources said Butt's arrest was a major step forward in tracking down the source of the grenades.
Butt and Salam are now in jail and they have given their confessional statements before magistrates in this connection.
During the last caretaker government in 2008, CID's Fazlul Kabir submitted the charge sheet for the August 21 case before a Dhaka court accusing 22 people including former deputy minister of BNP Abdus Salam Pintu. Other accused were from Huji including its top leader Mufti Abdul Hannan.
Of the 22, 14 are arrested including Pintu and Hannan. Among the eight fugitive, one is Moulana Tajuddin, younger brother of Pintu who has strong ties with Pakistan-based extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Before Kahar took over and throughout the tenure of the BNP-led coalition government, steps had been taken to have stage-managed probes. Fictitious characters like Joj Mia were produced out of the blue to scuttle the investigations.
A judicial investigation commission was formed a day after the attack. The one-man enquiry commission of Justice Joynul Abedin, which filed its report in just 40 days, mentioned the hand of "a foreign enemy country".
The attackers used Arges grenades in their bid to kill Hasina. The same brand grenades were also used in several attacks before and after August 21, 2004; including the attack on then British high commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet on May 21, 2004; the attack on former finance minister SAMS Kibria in Habiganj on January 27, 2005.
Some investigators observed that criminals who carried out several attacks used the same brand grenades and belong to the same group and all the attacks were made under a comprehensive plan.
Kahar said even though investigation of each attack is being done separately, only one group seems was involved and this is why the probes are helping each other.
POLICE CLOSE TO CATCHING THE REST
Police are very close to finding the absconding culprits of the attack.
At least two teams of police personnel who are experts in criminal investigation have been working to this end in different countries since early this year.
"We're at the final stage of tracing the criminals," home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told The Daily Star last night.
The investigation is still going on, Sobhan said, adding that appropriate measures will be taken to bring them back to face trial.
"We've enough information about the hideouts of some of the criminals. But it cannot be disclosed now for the sake of investigation," a home ministry source said seeking anonymity.
Of the ones on the run, some have been mentioned in the charge sheet while the others are suspects, the source added.
The teams have already visited a few European countries including the UK and France and sought assistance from the Interpol to arrest the criminals.
Home ministry sources said one team from the CID has been staying in France for several months to track down the accused who have been mentioned in the charge sheet while the other team visited Malaysia recently to obtain information about a number of suspects.
Sources said the government is also using diplomatic channels to find out the whereabouts of the culprits.
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