Mufti Hannan, 5 others charge sheeted

Harkat-ul-Jihad chief Mufti Hannan being taken to a Bagerhat court on August 18, 2010 in connection with the case for a bomb attack on the election rally of Sheikh Helal Uddin at Mollahat in the district on September 23, 2001. FILE PHOTO: STAR

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday pressed charges against six people, including Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji) leader Mufti Abdul Hannan, in the case for bomb attack on Sheikh Helal's election rally in Mollahat upazila in 2001.
Assistant Police Superintendent of CID (Faridpur zone) ABM Siddiqur Rahman, also the investigation officer the case, submitted two charge sheets--one in the murder case and another in the case filed under Explosives Substances Act--to the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court in Bagerhat.
Five other charge sheeted accused are former president of BNP Mollahat upazila unit Badsha Mia Shikdar, JMB activists Zillur Rahman alias Jinu Mollah, Abu Taleb, Arifuzzaman alias Anis, and Hafez Mohammad Rakib Hasan alias Russel.
The four JMB activists are now in jai as they have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment in the case for serious of bomb blasts in Bagerhat town on August 17 in 2005.
Eight people were killed and 50 others, including Sheikh Helal, were injured as a powerful bomb planted by the accused exploded at the rally of Sheikh Helal at Khalilur Rahman Degree College ground in Mollahat upazila on September 23, 2001.
The accused exploded the bomb by using a remote-controlled device. The then upazila Awami League President Chowdhury Ziaul Islam Panna Miah filed the cases with Mollahat Police Station against 176 people the following day.
After investigation, the investigation officer dropped the names of 174 out of 176 FIR-named accused except Badsha Miah Shikder and JMB activist Jinu Mollah.
The IO included the names of Huji chief Mufti Hannan and JMB activists Abu Taleb, Arifuzzaman, and Hafez Mohammad Rakib Hasan in the charge sheets as their involvement.