A magistrate’s court on Sunday acquitted all the 18 accused including
ruling Awami League leader Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Mirza Azam and Sayed
Khokan of the charges of arson attack on a double-decker bus in Dhaka
Sheraton Hotel crossing on June 4, 2004 that killed 11 people.
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Keshab Roy Chowdhury dismissed the case accepting the final report submitted by Criminal
Investigation Department assistant superintendent of police Khandaker Md
Abdul Halim, also the investigation officer of the case, on February 7,
2013 after a further investigation.
The court observed that the further investigation failed to unearth the
arson and there was no possibility of unearthing it in future.
The court mentioned that the police had earlier submitted a final report
on January 14, 2009 meaning that the investigation failed to gather
evidence to prove the charges against the accused.
The court had, however, ordered a further investigation in the case.
The final report, the CID officer submitted after the further
investigation, stated that the confessional statements made by some
people earlier were false and obtained forcibly.
Awami League leaders Shafiqul Islam and Mohammad Masum told the
investigation officer that they had earlier made confessional statements
being threatened to be killed by Detective Branch of police who took
them in custody for interrogation, the probe report said.
A staff of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation bus and his
assistant also made confessional statements which were ‘false’ and
‘fabricated’, said the report.
Shafiqul’s confession was false as he was in fact in police custody on
June 4, 2004 when the arson attack was made, the report said, adding
that the Ramna police had arrested Kalu on June 3, 2004 in a mugging
case and produced him before a court that remanded him in custody for a
day for interrogation.
The acquitted accused include Awami League leaders Jahangir Kabir Nanak,
Mirza Azam, city AL organising secretary Sayed Khokan, AFM Mizanur
Rahman, Shafiqul Islam, Mohammad Masum, Mohammad Monir, Dinesh Sarker,
Abdul Mannan, Md Jahangir Alam and Shahidul Islam Thandu.
Shafiqul, son of Hazrat Ali of Baligaon village under Tongibari upazila
of Munshiganj, in his confessional statement on July 28, 2004 named
Nanak, Mirza Azam and Sayed Khokan as the masterminds of the arson.
Masum also made confessional statement on July 14, 2004 and named them as the masterminds of the bus arson. (source)