Jamal Ahmed, widely known as Joj Mia, gave deposition before a Dhaka court on Tuesday in a case related to the grenade attack on a Awami League rally in Dhaka on 21 August 2004 that claimed at least 22 lives.
Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 judge, Shahed Nur Uddin, recorded the deposition from about 12 noon to 1:30pm on Tuesday.
Joj Mia said he was in his village, Senbagh, in Noakhali on 21 August 2004. He first came to know about the attack while watching a television news at a tea stall in the village.
He said once he was a resident of Nakhalpara in Dhaka and worked as a CD vendor in Gulistan.
He returned Dhaka few days after the 21 August incident, but have to go back to the village as his health deteriorated.
One day while he was on his way to a market to buy some medicine, night watchman, Moksed, stopped him and said, “You’re a smuggler. There is a warrant for your arrest. You must visit the police station without delay.”
When Joj Mia and Moksed went to the Senbagh police station, they found Central Investigation Department officers, who were from Dhaka, waiting there.
The detectives took him to their central office at Malibagh in Dhaka.
CID officers forced him to file a false and fabricated statement, added Joj Mia.
Earlier, officers threatened that they would kill Joj Mia and his family, if he did not file false depositions, Joj Mia claimed.
He also said that he had to do according to what he was told only to save his family.
He added that CID officers gave him a written text to memorise for deposition and he had to say the text from memory thrice a day to CID officers.
Earlier on 26 June 2005 Joj Mia confessed before a magistrate alleging a gang, Seven-Star Group, led by Subrata Bain, carried out the grenade attack.
Joj Mia admitted that he was one of the attackers and the 14-member group had met at Moghbazar in Dhaka several days before the attack.
It was later revealed that Joj Mia’s statements were false and he was forced to do that.
CID officers, on instruction from then State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, made up the false story to divert the investigation into a different direction.
It was also revealed that the deadly attack was not planned either by Joj Mia or the Subrata Bain’s gang, rather that was carried out by Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji) and ruling BNP and other government apparatus backed the killing.
Source: Prothom Alo