Three bombs found at courtrooms
Raising serious concern over security at the apex court, three bombs were recovered from a Supreme Court building yesterday.
The explosives were found in two courtrooms on the first floor of the SC's annex building where proceedings of the High Court take place.
Police were yet to arrest anyone in connection with the incident that created panic among judges, lawyers and court staffs.
Each of the bombs, weighing around 500 grams, contains explosive substances, and is more powerful than usual crude bombs, said Rahmatullah Chowdhury, senior assistant commissioner (Bomb Disposal Unit) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Those were sent to the Department of Explosives for further examination, he said.
In another unsettling development in the evening, a loaded pistol was recovered from a toilet of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) building.
Court staffs found two can-shaped objects inside two law books in courtroom-17 of the annex building around 4:50pm, as they were about to lock the room after the day's proceedings, a police officer, who was on duty, told The Daily Star.
Justice Md Nizamul Huq and Justice SH Md Nurul Huda Jaigirdar sit in that courtroom.
Another can-shaped object wrapped in red tape was found inside a book in courtroom-9 on the first floor of the same building around 2:00pm.
A bench officer noticed a law book on a bench of the courtroom. As the officer opened it, he found the object concealed inside the hollow book, and immediately informed the authorities.
Justice Zinat Ara and Justice Md Habibul Gani usually use the courtroom.
As the news spread, judges, lawyers, and court staffs got into a panic.
Later, experts of the Bomb Disposal Unit recovered the bomb.
Law enforcers then searched almost all courtrooms and office rooms at the SC, a police official told this correspondent.
SC Registrar SM Kuddus Zaman said his office filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station against unidentified criminals, mentioning that the bombs were kept at the courtrooms to harm judges, lawyers and litigants.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said BNP-Jamaat men, who are carrying out subversive activities, might have planted the bombs in the courtrooms.
Meanwhile, pro-Awami League lawyers, including M Amir-Ul Islam and Sahara Khatun, demanded that the government tighten security on the SC premises.
They made the demand at a programme organised by Awami Ainjibi Parishad at the SCBA office to condemn the recent bomb blasts targeting the residences of the law minister and an HC judge, and the ancestral home of another HC judge.
PISTOL RECOVERED
At about 6:20pm, police recovered a pistol loaded with five bullets from a toilet on the second floor of the SCBA building.
SCBA Superintendent Nimesh Chandra Das said the pistol belonged to Sekendar Sheikh, former councillor of Ward-35 of Dhaka City Corporation, who had lost the licensed firearm on the SCBA premises on January 3.
Sekendar filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station in this connection the same day. Police later searched the SCBA premises but couldn't find the pistol, he said.
Yesterday evening, a visitor saw the pistol on the flush tank of a toilet, and notified Nimesh.
“I then informed police and Supreme Court Bar Association leaders,” said the SCBA superintendent.
Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, said the description of the pistol that the ex-ward councillor had lost matched with the one recovered from the SCBA building. They were yet to confirm it.
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