Judge Mohammad Aman Ullah granted the petition for withdrawal of the case filed for an explosion in the yard of Pintu's 25 Maneswar Road residence in Lalbagh that left one dead and seven others seriously injured nine years back.

Earlier, the government on March 22 withdrew the first case against Pintu filed for robbing at gunpoint tender documents for auction of a bankrupt company's property. Pintu was arrested on December 26, 2001 on the charge.

The government on April 2 last year withdrew the second case against Pintu and a dozen others filed for assaulting and injuring police and Awami League members.

In the order, the judge said after scrutinising the documents of the case the charges brought against Pintu and others were found politically motivated. So, the charges were withdrawn and all the accused were discharged from the allegations, the judge said.

The withdrawal order was passed yesterday in absence of Pintu and two other accused although they had been earlier directed by the same court to appear.

Pintu last appeared before the court in the case on October 4, 2000 and has been absent from the court for 26 consecutive dates.

As per direction from the home ministry on March 18, 2004, Public Prosecutor Abdullah Mahmud Hassan on January 1 last year submitted a petition to the Fifth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka along with a photocopy of the home ministry's missive for revoking the case.

A senior lawyer, on condition of anonymity, yesterday told The Daily Star that he does not know how the charges could be labelled "politically motivated". "It is nothing but a bid to save the lawmaker from a judicial trial," he said.

Masud Ahmed Talukder, a lawyer representing Pintu, on the other hand, told The Daily Star that his client was implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass him falsely.