Hasina train attack: Fugitive convict held

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested a fugitive who was sentenced to death over an armed attack on a train carrying Sheikh Hasina in Pabna 25 years ago.

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested a fugitive who was sentenced to death over an armed attack on a train carrying Sheikh Hasina in Pabna 25 years ago.
Zakaria Pintu, who had a warrant out for his arrest, was apprehended in Cox's Bazar on Saturday, according to ASP ANM Imran Khan, assistant director of the RAB's media wing.
Pintu has been convicted of several crimes, including possession of illegal arms, over his involvement in the 1994 shooting, Imran said on Sunday .Further details on the matter will be revealed at a media briefing later in the day.
Pintu, the former general secretary of the BNP's Ishwardi unit, has been on the run from the outset.
Eight others were handed the death penalty in the attempt to murder case while 25 were jailed for life.
Hasina, the then opposition leader, was conducting a nationwide campaign by rail when her coach came under attack upon arriving in Pabna's Ishwardi on Sept 23, 1994.
But the Awami League chief managed to survive the assault carried out during her BNP counterpart Khaleda Zia's first term as prime minister.
The railway police, as plaintiff, later initiated a case against 135 people in connection with the incident.
The investigation hit a snag during the BNP's rule but picked up speed once the Awami League formed the government in 1996.
Police later pressed charges against 52 people, including Pintu and Moklesur Rahman Bablu, former mayor of Ishwardi Municipality, at the end of the probe.