Death-row fugitive arrested for 1994 attack on Sheikh Hasina
With the arrest of Zakaria, 34 accused in the case are now in jail, 13 are absconding and five died during the last 25 years
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested a fugitive convicted in multiple cases including one filed for the attempted murder of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 1994.
"The arrestee, Zakaria Pintu, was facing an arrest warrant. A team of RAB-2 apprehended him from Cox's Bazar's Teknaf upazila on 25 June," said RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandaker Al Moin on Sunday.
Pintu fled to India from Bangladesh in 2019 after a Pabna court awarded the death sentence to him in the 1994 train attack case, he said.
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He, however, returned a few years later and has been on the run ever since. He stayed in different places in Dhaka and Rajshahi before seeking refuge at a friend's place in Teknaf, the RAB official said.
He was also sentenced to 17 years in prison in an arms case while being charged in at least 17 more cases, Commander Khandaker Al Moin added.
A Pabna court in 2019 handed down death sentences to nine people and life imprisonment to 20 others for firing gunshots and throwing bombs on a train carrying the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina at Iswardi railway station on 23 September 1994.
The same court also sentenced 13 accused to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for the same charge.
Convicts who were sent to the gallows are - Mokhlesur Rahman Bablu, AKM Akhtaruzzaman, Zakaria Pintu, Mostofa Nure Alam Shaymal, Mahbubur Rahman Palash, Shamsul Alam, Mujibur Rahman, Shahidul Islam Atal and Shamsuzzaman.
Awami League has said that Sheikh Hasina was attacked by BNP activists at Ishwardi while going to Syedpur from Khulna on 23 September 1994. The attackers fired gunshots and threw bombs at her train compartment with the motive of killing her.
GRP Police Station Officer-in-Charge Nazrul Islam recorded a case in this connection accusing seven persons at the time.
In 1996 when Awami League came to power the case was further investigated. A year later, police submitted a final report as they did not get any witnesses in the case. But the court did not accept the final report and transferred the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for a fresh investigation.
Upon further inquiry, a new charge sheet was prepared against 52 top leaders and activists of Iswradi BNP and its youth wing Jubo Dal.
On 30 June 2019, as many as 30 accused surrendered in the court who were the then leaders of BNP, Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal of Iswardi. The court didn't accept their bail petition and sent them to jail. On 2 July of the same year, two more accused surrendered in court. Police also arrested another accused on the following night.
With the arrest of Zakaria, 34 accused in the case are now in jail, 13 are absconding and five died during the last 25 years.
