ANI DHAKA

There is no allegation of militant affiliation against Bangladesh's former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, his lawyer, Shishir Monir, said on Thursday.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) vice-chairman Pintu was  released by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government on Tuesday after a period of 17 years. He was arrested for alleged involvement in the August 21, 2004,  massacre targeting Awami League politicians, including Sheikh Hasina.

"Abdus Salam Pintu was charged with plotting the grenade attacks",Monir told ANI over the phone. Pintu was sentenced to death in 2018, which was on December 1 overturned by a Bangladesh high court.

Asked about certain media reports that claimed that Pintu had connections with the terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) and the terror groups of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) which connivance to carry out an attack on India, Monir said, "There is no such allegation in the case filed against him.”

On August 21, 2004, 24 Awami League leaders were killed and at least 400 injured in a grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina's public meeting. Hasina narrowly escaped but her hearing was impaired due to an injury to her ear. A judicial court sentenced 19 people, including Pintu, to death on October 10, 2018.

On August 5, a student-led movement ousted Sheikh Hasina as Bangladesh Prime Minister, after weeks of protests and clashes that killed over 600 people. Hasina, 76, fled to India and an interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed.

On December 1, all the accused who received the death sentence and life imprisonment in the 2004 grenade attacks case under the Murder and Explosive Substances Act were acquitted by the country's high court. The high court also observed that the ruling by the judicial court was illegal. 

Pintu was elected Member of Parliament (MP) from Tangail-2 (Gopalpur-Bhuyapur) in the 1991 and 2001 national elections. In 2001, he was appointed as a deputy minister. In January 2008, he was arrested in the August 21 grenade attack case. Since his arrest, he had been detained in prison.