Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal on Thursday sentenced a person to death in a case filed for the grenade attack on a rally of former minister and late Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta in 2004.
The tribunal also acquitted the remaining nine accused, including expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury, Jatiya Sangsad whip GK Gauss and a former state minister for home affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar from the charges brought in the case.
The death row convict is Hafiz Syed Naeem Ahmed Arif, alias Nimur, of Jagannathpur upazila in Sunamganj, court sources said.
‘The tribunal judge Swapan Kumar Sarker announced the verdict at noon after a judicial process of more than two decades. The judge also fined the death row convict Tk 1 lakh,’ the tribunal’s public prosecutor Abul Hossain said.
He said that nine out of the ten accused in the case were present in the court when the verdict was announced. Among them, three – including Arif, Gaus and Babar – were on bail, six were in custody, and the last one was absconding.
‘After a long hearing, review of evidences and case documents, the tribunal ruled that the charges against the nine acquitted accused were not proven undoubtedly,’ the public prosecutor said.
The defendants’ lawyer Borhan Uddin said that charges were framed against 13 people in the case.
‘But, three of them were excluded from this case as they already were sentenced to death in other cases. Nine of the remaining 10 accused were acquitted. Only Hafiz Syed Naeem Ahmed was found guilty in the trial and sentenced to death,’ he said.
Syed Maruf Ahmed, brother of the death row convict Hafiz Syed Naeem, expressed his dissatisfaction at the court premises after announcement of the verdict in the case.
‘My brother has been trapped. He was not involved in the incident. We will appeal against the verdict,’ he claimed.
According to the case story, on June 21, 2004, an activist of AL’s youth front Juba League, Wahid Miah, was killed and around 50 others were injured in the grenade attack on a rally of Suranjit at Derai upazila in the Sunamganj. He, however, escaped the attack unhurt.
Then sub-inspector Helal Uddin of the Derai police station filed 2 cases in this connection against unnamed accused for the grenade attack and attempt to kill Suranjit. The police also pressed charge-sheets in the cases against 13 people, the court sources said.
Later in July 2016, assistant superintendent of Criminal Investigation Department of police, Basu Datta Chakma, also the investigation officer, added the names of 9 more persons, including Arif and Gaus, in the supplementary charge sheets after a fresh investigation into the grenade attack.
Finally in 2020, ten people, including the three BNP leaders – Arif, Gaus and Babar – were named in the charge sheets after further investigation, the tribunal sources said.
According to the tribunal sources, a total of 123 witnesses were testified during the trial in the cases.
