August 17 Serial Blasts In Jhenidah
Charge sheet against six HuJi cadres
Police have submitted a charge sheet to Jhenidah Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court against six militants in connection with August 17 serial bomb blasts in Jhenidah in 2005.
One of the militants, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, earlier admitted his direct involvement in the grenade attack on Awami League President Sheikh Hasina's meeting on August 21 in 2004.
Other charge-sheeted accused are Mohammad Ali, 42, of Hat Gopalpur, Jhenidah Sadar, Omar Faruk alias Laden, 40, of Chasra, Jessore, Jahangir Alam, 30, of Kalishankorpur in Kushtia, Abul Kashem of Mirzapur village in Bagharpara upazila. The charge sheet was submitted Sunday evening.
Mohammad Ali used to preserve arms of HuJi while working as an oil trader at the local market, said Rab sources, adding that following his confession grenades were found under the floor of his house.
On October 28, Rab arrested the six militants at different places in Jhenidah and following their confessional statement the law enforcers recovered huge explosives including 16 grenades from their houses the next day, police said.
Sub-Inspector Abul Kalam of Rab-6 in Jhenidah lodged a case with a Jhenidah court against the six militants.
Militants under the banner of Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJi) have been active in the south-western districts including Jhenidah for several years.
Detained HuJi leader Bulbul made deposition at a Dhaka court under Section 164 that he had a direct role in the August 21 grenade attack.
The first grenade he threw dropped beside the truck carrying Sheikh Hasina's stage and the second one also fell near the truck but it did not explode as he forgot to unfold the safety pin, he said. Narrating the whole story of the attack, he named 12 militants.
Bulbul built a stronghold of militants in Shailkupa in Jhenidah. After marrying a woman at Garagong under Shailkupa upazila in 1991, he settled there and became an Imam of a nearby mosque.
Later he joined HuJi and started training his followers on the bank of Kumar river in Shailkupa.
Officer-in Charge Belal Uddin Tarafder of Shailkupa Police Station said Bulbul is an accused in an arms case at the police station.
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