Ramna blast verdict deferred

A Dhaka court has deferred the verdict on the Ramna Batamul blast case to June 23.

Judge Ruhul Amin of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court, Dhaka passed the order on Sunday morning.

The verdict was deferred as the judge could not complete writing the judgement, said the court.

Nine accused in the Ramna blast case including Huji chief Mufti Hannan were produced before the court in the morning.

The nine accused are: Mufti Abdul Hannan, Maulana Yahiya, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Arif Hasan Suman, Maulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Maulana Abu Taher, Maulana Abdur Rouf and Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel.

Two cases — one for the killing and the other under the explosive substances act — were filed with Ramna Police Station in connection with the incident.

Of the 14 accused, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye, Maulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar and Maulana Mohammad Tajuddin are still at large.

During the traditional celebrations of the Bangla New Year, 1408 (April 14, 2001) at the Ramna Batamul, several blasts killed 10 people and injured around 50 others.

It took the investigators over seven years to trace Huji links with the attack.

The Criminal Investigation Department on December 30, 2008 pressed charges against the 14 accused in both the cases.

Mufti Hannan and Akbar in confessional statements before magistrates told that they along with other Huji members had carried out the bomb attack as celebrating the Bangla New Year is anti-Islamic.

Source: Dhaka Tribune