Almost two years after the country’s worst terror attack, investigators say they are all set to file the chargesheet in court.
The Dhaka metro police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, which was in charge of the investigation, says they have found 21 people were involved in planning and executing of the Holey Artisan attack.
However, 13 names have been dropped as they were killed in anti-terror raids following the attack. Charges have pressed against the remaining eight suspects, including two fugitives.
“We have finalised the charges and hope to submit it in court on Monday,” said Deputy Commissioner Mohibul Islam Khan of the CTTC.
In 2016, Bangladesh was rocked by an unprecedented attack on a cafe in capital Dhaka’s upscale neighbourhood.
On the night of Jul 1, five terrorists shouting 'Allahu Akbar' stormed into the Holey Artisan Bakery and O' Kitchen restaurant, an eatery popular among foreigners in the diplomatic area of Gulshan.
The attackers killed 20 diners, including 17 foreigners, and two police officers, who were caught in grenade blasts.
The five attackers and a restaurant staff member were shot dead when army commandos raided the restaurant the next morning. Another staffer of the eatery later died in the hospital.
“We have completed all the legal procedures and expect to file the charges in court on Monday,” CTTC Additional Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Saiful Islam told Bangla Tribune on Sunday.
Police have maintained from the very beginning that the neo-JMB, a splinter group of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), was behind the attack.
According to officials, involvement of 21 people have found in the planning and executing of the Holey Artisan attack.
The five gunmen who carried out the attack have been identified as Nibras Islam, Mir Sameeh Mobassher, Rohan Ibn Imtiaz, Khairul Islam Payel and Shafiqul Islam Ujjal — a mixed squad of tech-savvy Dhaka youths and Madrasa-bred radicals.
All of them were killed in the commando operation launched to save the hostages.
Top neo-JMB leader Canadian-Bangladeshi Tamim Chowdhury, former army major Jahidul Islam, Tanvir Quaderi, Nurul Islam Marzan, Abu Raihan Tarek, Sarwar Jahan Manik alias Abdur Rahman, Basharuzzaman Chocolate and Mizanur Rahman alias Chhoto Mizan – the men killed in different anti-terror raids since July 2016 — were all involved in staging the attack to some extent, police said.
With the March 2018 arrest of alleged weapons supplier Hadisur Rahman’s Sagar, seven suspects are now in police custody.
A CTTC source, however, said no evidence was found against suspect Abul Hasanat Rezaul Karim.
Karim, a former North South University teacher, was among the hostages along with his family members at the eatery on the night of the attack.
His name will be dropped from the charge sheet, according to sources.
The six others suspected militants in custody — Soheil Mahfuz, Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, Mizanur Rahman alias Boro Mizan, Rakibul Hasan Regan and recently-arrested Sagar have confessed before court to their involvement in the attack.
Sources involved in the investigation said, names of two more suspects have came up during the probe — Mamunur Rashid and Shariful Islam Khaled. The duo fled to a neighbouring country soon after the terror attack.
They will be charged as fugitives to justice.