Aug 21 grenade attack: Decision on charge framing Feb 29

A Dhaka court on Monday fixed February 29 to decide whether it will frame charges against BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman and 51 others for grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004.

Judge Shahed Nuruddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 fixed the date on completion of hearing on the petitions of 33 accused, seeking discharge.

The court will also deliver orders on the discharge petitions also on February 29. The 33 accused, now in jail, filed the petitions on October 9 last year.

Twenty-four people were killed and around 200 others injured in the grisly grenade attack on the Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in August, 2004.

Police filed two cases — one under the Explosive Substances Act and another for killing people — in this connection.

A supplementary charge-sheet was submitted to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka on July 3, 2011 naming 30 more accused in the two cases. With the new faces named in the supplementary charge sheet, the number of chargesheeted accused in the cases reached 52.

Twenty-two people were earlier accused in the first charge-sheet submitted on June 22, 2008.

News Source:  UNB