A Dhaka court has acquitted BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 64 others in a case filed over crude bomb explosion in 2023.
Judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court accepted the final police report and issued the acquittal order on Thursday.
Other leaders discharged in the case include BNP Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury; Vice Chairmen Shamsuzzaman Dudu and Barkat Ullah Bulu; former home minister Altaf Hossain; Joint Secretary General Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon; BNP chairperson’s adviser Zainul Abedin; BNP leader Ishraque Hossain; and International Affairs Secretary Barrister Nasir Uddin.
According to the case statement, BNP leaders and activists from across the country gathered in Dhaka for a pre-scheduled grand rally on October 28, 2023. A clash broke out between the BNP supporters and law enforcers. During that time, BNP activists allegedly vandalised vehicles, obstructed police duties and detonated crude bombs.
Following the incident, on October 31 that year, Sub-Inspector Auwal of Ramna Model Police Station filed the case, naming 55 people, including Mirza Fakhrul.
But after fall of Awami League government, the investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Mamun Hasan, on October 21, 2024 submitted two separate final reports, recommending the BNP leaders’, including Fakhrul, discharge.
Later, on December 18 last year, Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court accepted one of the reports, granting acquittal. The final report under the Explosives Act was later transferred to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court.
The latest verdict by the court now brings an end to the explosives case against the BNP leaders.