Cases Take New Turn as JMB Kingpin Confesses to Involvement
Reinvestigation into Satkhira cinema, circus blasts ordered
Our Correspondent, Satkhira
A court here yesterday ordered reinvestigation into the bomb blasts in a cinema and a circus in Satkhira town in September 2002 in which three people were killed and 125 injured. After the incidents,three local Awami League leaders were arrested and quizzed by the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) in Dhaka but no clue to the incident was found. The order for reinvestigation followed confessions by JMB kingpin Abdur Rahman and an arrested cadre that the militant outfit was involved in the blasts. On September 28 in 2002, a bomb exploded inside Roxy Cinema in the town at about 7:30 pm, leaving 90 people injured. Ten minutes later, a second bomb went off in a circus in Satkhira Stadium, injuring over 36 people. The circus was organised as part of the traditional fair, 'Gurpukurer Mela' Three of the injured-- Mortazul Alam Mukta, 15, Hafizur Rahman, 25 and Dr. Selina Parvin, 35later died at hospital. Immediately after the blasts, police arrested eight people including local Awami League leaders Pourasava Commissioner Mominullah Mohon, Dilip Kumar Biswas and Zulfiqur Ali Tota. The arrested were quizzed by the JIC on November 7, 2002, but no clue to the blasts was found. The two blast cases were transferred to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for investigation. CID Khulna Zone ASP Maula Bux and CID Inspector Sukhranjan Samaddar were made Investi-gation Officers ( IOs). On April 11 last year, the two IOs submitted final reports to courts, saying they failed to identify the culprits involved in the blasts. JMB cadre Masud Bin Ishaque, arrested from Khulna in September after last year's August 17 countrywide serial blasts, confessed to police that JMB blasted the bombs in the cinema and in the circus. JMB kingpin Abdur Rahman in his recent confessions also said that the militant outfit was behind bomb blasts in cinemas, circus shows and mazars (shrines) across the country. After their confessional statements, Khulna CID Inspector Akhtaruzzaman and Bagerhat CID Inspector Afsar Uddin were made IOs of Roxy cinema and circus blasts respectively. They submitted separate prayers before Satkhira Additional Sessions Judge's court, seeking permission to reinvestigate the cases. After hearing, Additional Sessions Judge Osman Haidar ordered reinvestigation into the blasts.
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