The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested a man condemned to death over the bomb attack on Chhayanaut’s Pahela Boishakh programme at Ramna Batamul in Dhaka two decades ago.
Mufti Shafiqur Rahman was also sentenced to life in prison for the Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.
The RAB informed the media about his arrest in a message on Bangla New Year on Thursday, reports bdnews24.com.
He was arrested in Kishoreganj’s Bhairab, the RAB said. No further details were given.
Ten people were killed after a bomb had exploded during leading cultural troupe Chhayanaut’s programme at the capital’s Ramna Batamul in the morning of Apr 14, 2001.
According to the case dossier, Islamist militants targeted the Pahela Baishakh event as they considered it ‘anti-Islamic’.
Mufti Abdul Hannan, a top leader of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami or HuJI, Shafiqur and 12 other militants were accused in the murder case filed over the bomb attack.
A Dhaka court on Jun 23, 2014 sentenced to death Hannan, Shafiqur and six other accused and gave life imprisonment to six others in the case.
Besides Hannan and Shafiqur, Maulana Akbar Hossain, Arif Hasan Sumon, Maulana Tajuddin, Hafiz Jahangir Alam Badr, Maulana Abu Bakr alias Hafiz Selim Hawladar, and Maulana Abdul Hai were given the capital punishment.
Shahadatullah Jewel, Maulana Sabbir, Shaokat Hossain alias Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abdur Rauf, Maulana Abu Taher and Maulana Yahia were sentenced to life.
Tajuddin, Jahangir, Abu Bakr, Abdul Hai are still absconding.
Hannan was hanged on Apr 12, 2017 for the grenade attack on former British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury.