Ramna Batamul cases: Judgment today

The verdict will be pronounced in more than a decade old Ramna Batamul carnage cases today (Monday). Judge of the 2nd Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court Ruhul Amin will deliver the much-awaited judgment around 11:30am. As many as 14 leaders and activists of banned outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji) are among the accused in the sensational bomb blast and killing cases filed in 2021. On April 14, 2021, a series of bomb explosions killed more than a dozen people, injuring 100 others at Ramna Batamul in the city during Pahela Baishakh-1408 celebrations. Chhayanat, a leading cultural platform in the country, organised the traditional Bangla new year celebrations. Two cases – one for the killing and the other under the explosive substances act – were lodged with Ramna Police Station. It took the investigators over 7 years to trace Huji links with the attack. The Criminal Investigation Department on December 30, 2008, pressed charges against the 14 Huji men in both the cases, including Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan. Mufti Hannan and 8 others are in jail while five others including Moulana Tajuddin, brother of BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, are on the run. Earlier, the court recorded statements of 61 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case. On May 28, after completion of arguments from the prosecution and the defence, the judge fixed today for pronouncement of the verdict, according to a news agency.