Agency

A Dhaka court Wednesday turned down a prayer seeking bail for former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu in a case that alleged he had a hand in plotting the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.

Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Md Azizul Haque made the decision as the investigators said Pintu was an "important element" of the case.

Joint forces arrested the former deputy minister on Jan 3, although he was subsequently released after interrogation.

On Jan 16, Pintu was arrested for a second time in connection with the 2004 attack on the rally in front of the Awami League's party headquarters on Bangabandhu Avenue.

Nearly two dozen party activists died while hundreds of others were wounded in the grisly attack.

Party chief Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack.

According to the charges, Pintu had allegedly plotted the grenade attack with his brother Maulana Tajuddin, a suspected member of radical Harkatul Jihad group.

The investigator claimed that Pintu supplied his brother with the grenades used in the attack as well as financial assistance and other help.

A statement made by Mufti Hannan, also accused in the case and suspected head of Harkatul Jihad, states that Pintu summoned him and Ahsanullah Kajal to his Dhanmondi home through Taher on Aug 18 2004. It is alleged that the attack was planned in that meeting.

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