A Dhaka court for the first time yesterday granted bail to six former top police officials, who were named in the supplementary charge sheets of one of the August 21 grenade attack cases.
Of them, Ashraful Huda, Shahudul Haque and Khoda Baksh Chowdhury were inspectors general of police, Munshi Atiqur Rahman and Abdur Rashid assistant superintendents of police of CID and Ruhul Amin special superintendent of police of CID.
Ashraful Huda and Shahudul Haque were charged with assisting financially and administratively in the execution of the attack. Ruhul Amin, Atiqur Rahman, Abdur Rashid and Khoda Baksh were charged with misleading the case and falsely implicating a petty criminal named Joj Mia to save the real culprits.
Ruhul Amin, Atiqur Rahman and Abdur Rashid were the officials who led the first investigation when Khoda Baksh was the IGP.
Judge Shahed Nuruddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 granted the bail after defence lawyers submitted separate bail petitions.
The officials who got bail are also accused in a killing case.
Masdar Hossain, a judge of the same court, earlier had granted bail to two Harkatul Jihad (Huji) leaders. But later their bail was cancelled.
Twenty-four people, including Awami League leader Ivy Rahman, were killed and around 200 others injured in the grisly assault on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. The then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack.
During the proceedings yesterday, counsels of the 30 accused named in supplementary charge sheets began cross-examining Sharif Faruque Ahmed, former sub-inspector of Motijheel Police Station and also the complainant of the cases.
The court also rejected a petition from BNP lawmaker Kazi Shah Mohammad Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad to appoint a lawyer for defending him in his absence.
It set April 15 for the next hearing.
Earlier on March 18, the court discharged the six accused from the case filed under the Explosive Substance Act.
Syed Rezaur Rahman appeared for the state.