Charge sheet in Holey Artisan attack case today

The charge sheet of the militant attack on Gulshan’s Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital on July 1 in 2016 will be submitted to the court today.

“We are going to submit the charge sheet in the Holey Artisan attack case against eight militants today as all necessary formalities to this end have already been completed,” Md Monirul Islam, chief of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC), told journalists.

The charge sheet will be submitted to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court under Anti-Terrorism Act-2009, he confirmed.

Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh operatives Rakibul Islam Regan, Hadisur Rahman Sagor, Jahangir Hossain Rajeeb alias Rajeeb Gandhi, Aslam Hossain Rashed alias Rash, Abdus Sabur Khan alias Sohel Mahfuj, Mizanur Rahman alias Baro Mizan, Mamunur Rashid alias Ripon and Shariful Islam Khaled, a former student of the English department of Rajshahi University (RU), will be made accused in the charge sheet.

Of them, the first six JMB operatives, who gave confessional statements under section 164, are now in jail while the remaining two are at large.

However, Professor Hasnat Karim of the North South University (NSU) will be dropped from the charge sheet.

A total of 193 persons will be made prosecution witnesses and over 50 evidences will be included in the charge sheet, Mohibul Haque Khan, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the CTTC, said.

The CTTC also found direct involvement of the two fugitive militants –Mamunur Rashid alias Ripon and Shariful Islam Khaled — in the attack.

The CTTC unit of the police has investigated the militant attack that killed 20 people, mostly foreign nationals, and two police officials, the DC said adding that they found direct involvement of 21 militants in the deadly attack.

Of them, five were killed on the spot on that fateful night and 12 others in the nationwide anti-militant crackdown by law enforcers, the DC said.