76-kg bomb unearthing
Fugitive convict surrenders
UNB
A court in Dhaka on Tuesday sent to jail Sarwar Hossain Mia, a fugitive convict in a case filed over the unearthing of 76 kg explosives near the rally venue of the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Kotalipara in Gopalganj in 2000, reports UNB.
Acting Judge Abdur Rahman Sardar of Dhakas Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 passed the order when Sarwar, also a sister-in-law of executed chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji) Mufti Abdul Hannan, surrendered before the court.
On August 20, Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 Judge Mamtaz Begum announced 14 years of rigorous imprisonment to Sarwar Hossain Mia and Tk 10,000 fine in the case.
The same court also sentenced 10 people to death in the case filed over the murder attempt on the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Kotalipara of Gopalganj 17 years back.
Police found a 76-kilogram bomb in front of a shop adjacent to Sheikh Lutfur Rahman Govt High School on July 20, 2000 where Hasina was supposed to address a rally on July 22.
Another 40-kg heavy bomb was also recovered by an Army bomb expert squad from near the Kotalipara helipad on July 23.
Nur Hossain, sub-inspector of Kotalipara Police Station, filed a case under the Explosive Substances Act in connection with the incident.
Police pressed charges against 16 people, including Mufti Hannan, on April 8, 2001.
On June 29, 2009, police submitted a complementary charge-sheet implicating nine more people.
On September 2010, the case was transferred to the Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 of Dhaka from where the case documents were sent to the tribunal-2.
Mufti Hannan was executed on April 12, 2017 over the grenade attack on the then UK High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury at Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet in 2004.
