BNP leader Kaikobad returns home after 13 years in exile

BNP Vice Chairman Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad returned home on Saturday after spending 13 years in exile in different countries, including Saudi Arabia.
He arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a Saudi Airlines flight from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, around 11:20 am, said BNP media cell member Shayrul Kabir Khan.
Several thousand leaders and activists of the BNP and its associated bodies, and alem-ulema gathered outside the airport to welcome their leader.
Later, he visited the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman and paid homage.
He is scheduled to visit his hometown in Muradnagar Upazila, Cumilla, on Tuesday, family sources said.
Kaikobad, a five-time MP from Cumilla-3, had been implicated in two cases related to the grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on August 21, 2004, which forced him to stay abroad.
He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the attack.
However, on December 1, the High Court acquitted him, along with other BNP leaders, who had been convicted in the two cases related to the August 21, 2004, grenade attack.