Sylhet special tribunal orders further probe

A special tribunal here yesterday afternoon ordered further investigation into the sensational case filed for explosive substances in connection with the 2004 grenade attack on Anwar Chowdhury, the then British High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
Additional District & Sessions Judge-V Nazir Ahmed, also the special tribunal judge, passed the order on hearing a petition filed by Sylhet public prosecutor Misbah Uddin Siraj.
During the hearing, the PP yesterday said that a number of the arrested JMB and Huji men in their statements had clearly confessed to hatching a plot to kill the AL chief and other dignitaries like Anwar Chowdhury, but the then investigators did not carry out the investigation properly. Rather, being influenced by the 4-party alliance's home minister and others, they diverted those. So, now it is the time for holding further investigation to unveil the truth, he added.
The accused, outlawed JMB's present chief Moulana Saidur Rahman, activists Delwar Hossain Ripon and Shahedul Alam Bipul, Huji's Mufti Abdul Hannan's brother Muhibullah alias Muhibur Rahman and Mufti Mainuddin alias Masum Billah were present.
Deposition of 22 prosecution witnesses out of 57 had so far been recorded in the case, the court sources said.
Two cases -- one for murder and the other for explosive substances -- were filed in connection with the grenade attack on the then British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Chowdhury after Juma prayers on 21 May of 2004 at the gate of the shrine of Hajrat Shahjalal (RA) in Sylhet.
Three people were killed while over 50 others including the then District Bar Association president Abdul Hai Khan sustained injuries in the incident.
In the other case filed (for murder) in connection with the same incident, the Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal of Sylhet on 23 December of 2008 awarded death to Huji's Mufti Abdul Hannan, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain Ripon while Mufti Muhibur Rahman (Mufti Hannan's brother) and Mufti Mainuddin were awarded life and fined Tk 10,000 each.