BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman has been acquitted in a case filed under the Explosives Act in Gazipur, dating back 10 years. Along with him, Mahmud Hasan, the Metropolitan Jubo Dal member secretary, and 60 other BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists were also acquitted. The ruling was delivered on Thursday by Rehana Akhter, judge of Gazipur Additional District and Sessions Judge Court-1. Tarique Rahman was cleared in three separate cases filed in different police stations in Gazipur.

The case was originally filed on February 21, 2015, by Sub-Inspector (SI) Syed Abul Hashem of Joydebpur Police Station, accusing individuals of throwing petrol bombs at a bus during a nationwide blockade, which led to the bus catching fire. Although Tarique Rahman was not named in the initial case, he was later included as an accused in the charge sheet. The charges claimed that 50-60 leaders and activists from BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Chhatra Shibir threw the petrol bomb at a passenger bus in the Signboard area, aiming to create chaos.

Eight witnesses testified in the case, and after a lengthy legal process, the judge announced the verdict on Thursday. Defence lawyers, including Md Shahiduzzaman, Mostafa Kamal, and others, argued that Tarique Rahman’s inclusion in the charge sheet was motivated. According to , Tarique Rahman was added as an accused due to political harassment, allegedly orchestrated by Awami League leaders such as former ministers AKM Mozammel Haque, Zahid Ahsan, and city Awami League President Azmat Ullah Khan.