The Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police has submitted a supplementary charge sheet against nine people, including a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader, for the attack on the convoy of then US ambassador Marcia Bloom Bernicat in Dhaka on August 4, 2018.

A Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court is scheduled for October 4 to hear the case and the charge sheet submitted on September 19.

Complainant Badiul Alam Majumdar’s brother-in-law Mohammad Ishtiaq Mahmud and Mohammadpur thana Chhatra League president Naimul Hasan alias Russell, were named as accused in the charge sheet submitted by DB assistant commissioner Rajan Kumar Saha.

The charge sheet also named Feroz Mahmud, Mir Amjad Hossain, Saju Islam, Rajibul Islam, Shahidul Alam Khan, Siam and Oli Ahmed.

They are also activists of the ruling Awami League and the AL-backed student body Chhatra League. The Detective Branch also submitted an application seeking a warrant for the arrest of Ishtiaq Mahmud.

The rest eight accused are on bail and were also affiliated with the politics or ruling Awami League and Chhatra League as leaders and activists. The police found that the attack was carried out after spreading rumours over a dinner hosted by the complainant, Badiul Alam Majumdar, the secretary of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik, on the occasion of farewell of Bernicat ahead of 2018 general election.

Ishtiaq Mahmud has enmity with Badiul for a long time, DB official said.Badiul Alam Majumdar hoped that justice would be delivered since the charge sheet was submitted following a thorough reinvestigation.

DMP additional commissioner for the Detective Branch Harun-Or-Rashid said that they conducted the reinvestigation following a court order.Among the accused, Naimul Hasan was the general secretary of Mohammadpur Thana Chhatra League at the time of the incident and following the attack he was promoted to the president of the same unit. Naimul denied his involvement and said he heard screams at that time and rushed to the scene.

Mir Amjad Hossain was then joint general secretary of the Mohammadpur thana Chhatra League. Shahidul Alam Khan was then secretary for youth and sports affairs of Sher-E-Bangla Nagar thana Awami League.

Mojahid Azmi, who was then the president of Mohammadpur Thana Chhatra League, was dropped from the charge sheet as he died in 2021. Bernicat served as the US ambassador to Bangladesh from February 4, 2015 to November 2, 2018. She is now the director general of the US foreign service and global talent bureau of global talent management.