An anti-terror special court has concluded hearing testimonies of witnesses in the case over the attack at upscale Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan in 2016.
Judge Md Mujibur Rahman of Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal ended the depositions on Sunday (Oct 27), when defence counsels ended cross-examining investigating officer (IO), Humayun Kabir.
On Oct 17, the court started recording the Kabir's statement before the IO was cross-examined by the defense counsels from Oct 21 to 27.
As many as 113 witnesses have testified in the case.
The court has set Wednesday (Oct 30) to start hearing the defendants' statement.
On Jul 1, 2016, 20 people were killed including 17 foreigners during an extremist attack on the upscale Gulshan eatery.
A commando raid, the following morning eliminated five radicals who carried out the attack and rescued 13 hostages.
Some 21 members of militant outfit New JMB, a faction of banned militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were found to have been involved in the planning and execution of the attack, according to the charge sheet.
The charge sheet dropped a total of 13 names as they were killed during law enforcers’ drives at different places on different dates
On Nov 26, 2018, the court indicted eight suspects in the case and dropped the name of AbulHasanatRezaul Karim as no evidence was found against the former North South University teacher.
The trial in the brutal terror attack case begun on Dec 3, 2018, when Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Tribunal heard the testimony of the plaintiff, Gulshan police Sub-Inspector Ripon Kumar Das.