The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police pressed charges against 14 activists of the banned militant outfit “Neo JMB” in a case filed in connection to the hotel blast in Dhaka's Panthapath area on Aug 15, 2017.
The 14 suspects charged are Akram Hossain Khan Niloy, mastermind of the attack, Tanveer Yasin Karim, Abu Turab Khan, Sadia Hosna Lucky, Humaira Zakir Nabila, Tazreen Khanam Shubh, Abdullah alias Ranbir Kanti Das, Abul Kashem Fakir, Lulu Sardar alias Shahid Mistri, Najmul Hasan Mamun, Tarek Mohammad Adnan, Abdullah Aychan Kabiraj alias Rafiq, Taijul Islam Choton, and, Kamrul Islam Shakil.
Saiful, 21, from Khulna's Dumuria, blew himself up when a team of CTTC conducted 'Operation August Bite' at Hotel Olio International in Panthapath, a couple of hundred feet away from Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhaka's Dhanmondi.
On Monday (Dec 9), CTTC's Inspector Raju Ahmed, the investigating officer, filed the charge sheet with the court of Dhaka's chief metropolitan magistrate, when he recommended dropping charges against Saiful.
Suspect Taijul Islam Choton, a minor, will be tried in a juvenile court.
On Aug 15, 2015, the CTTC moved to prevent a possible suicide bomb attack on programmes observing the National Mourning Day, the day Bangabandhu and most of his family were brutally assassinated in 1975.
According to investigating officers, Niloy, who was the then-chief Neo JMB, planned the attack and instructed Saiful to take a position at the hotel. The militants used 'Dark Web and Telegram channel' to communicate among themselves, they said.
A day before the CTTC raid, the outfit's explosive expert suspect Mamun supplied explosives to Saiful at the city's Abdullahpur area. Later, Saiful checked in to the hotel with a suicide vest to carry out an attack on the crowd who joined Aug 15 memorial.
Niloy masterminded the blast while Tanvir, Abu Turab, Sadia, Humayira, and Tazreen were financiers of the attack, said country's top anti-terror officer Monirul Islam
Accused Nabia, Abu Turab, Sadia, Tazreen, and Niloy came from the same family.
