Counterterrorism police hope to file Gulshan cafe attack chargesheet in December

The Counterterrorism and Transnational Crimes or CTTC unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police hope to charge in court in December those accused of the Holey Artisan Bakery terror attack at Gulshan.

CTTC unit chief Monirul Islam spoke to reporters on Sunday about progress in the cases over the attack on the cafe and those on bloggers and publishers.

Monirul was recently transferred to the newly formed Antiterrorism Unit of Bangladesh Police, but has not joined his new workplace yet.

In the attack on the upmarket cafe in the Dhaka's diplomatic district on July 1 last year, militants killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners and two police officers.

Police started three cases – one for the killings, one under the Antiterrorism Act, and the other for concealing information – over the attack.

“We will try to submit the chargesheet of the Holey Artisan case in this month,” Monirul said.

On the first anniversary of the attack, the investigators said the inquiry of the case under the Antiterrorism Act halted as some of the suspected militants in the attack were yet to be arrested.

Monirul on Sunday cited the same reason behind the delay in filing the chargesheet.

He said the investigation had reached the final stage a long time ago but there had been confusion over the some of the absconding suspects like Basharuzzaman Chocolate and Chhoto Mizan.

Police found similarities between the two suspects and two killed in a recent drive in Chanpainawabganj, Monirul said and added DNA tests confirmed they were Basharuzzaman and Chhoto Mizan.

Police arrested some of those whose names came up during the investigation while some others were killed in anti-terror operations. Some of the arrested suspects gave confessional statements to court.

Monirul said one of the suspects, Hadisur Rahman Sagar, was still absconding.

Police are also looking for one Akram Hossain, who is suspected to have funded the attack.

Akram was also behind the blast at Hotel Olio in Dhaka’s Pathapath on Aug 15, Monirul said.

Monirul Islam. File Photo

According to the police official, two suspects – ‘Ripon’ and ‘Dhali’ - attended a meeting of the militants before the Gulshan attack.

He said Ripon and Dhali did not play a key role in the attack, but inspired it while being fugitives in India.

“It will be possible to get their confessional statements if we can arrest them. But even if we can’t arrest them, we will try to submit the chargesheet this month," Monirul added.

According to him, the law enforcers have arrested five cafe attack suspects alive.

Four of them, Mizanur Rahman alias Barha Mizan, Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, Rashedul Islam Rashed alias ‘Rash’ and Rakibul Hasan Rigan, made confessional statements in court.

The other suspect, Soheil Mahfuz, a suspected top leader of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB, supplied the grenades used in the raid, police said.

The law enforcers have blamed JMB’s revived edition Neo-JMB for the cafe attack.

Former North South University teacher Abul Hasnat Rezaul Karim, who went to the cafe on the day of the attack with his family, is also behind bars.

Monirul said the wife and a son of suspect Neo-JMB leader Tanvir Qaderi, who was killed in a raid, described his involvement in the attack.

Asked who were behind the attack, Monirul named Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury as the mastermind and Sarwar Jahan as his top aide.

“They actually wanted to draw the attention of the Islamic State, but it wasn’t an operation with direct IS link. We have found IS link to the attack in the investigation,” he added.

He said the attack aimed to hurt the government’s image and topple it after carrying out similar attacks so that the militants could get a favourable government.

The foreigners were targeted to harm foreign investment and draw international attention.

Monirul also said those who want to topple the government are ‘natural ally’ of the militants.

“We’ve seen that many of the Neo-JMB members had been involved with Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir,” he added.

He said the financiers of the attack and ‘some’ political parties share the same goal – to establish Sharia law.

“Their strategy is different, but the differences can be bridged in the future,” he warned.

Progress of other cases

Speaking about the case over the 2015 murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy, Monirul said eight suspects were initially arrested over the killing of the US citizen, but police did not find anyone but extremist blogger Shafiur Rahman Farabi linked to the attack.

Police arrested four suspects later and three of them had ‘confessed’ to being involved in the murder of Avijit, Monirul said.

“Their statements match the incident. It can be said that the murder case has been cracked."

He also said another suspect was on remand in the Avijit murder case and wanted to make a statement admitting to his involvement in court.

He said Farabi instigated the attack and Mukul Rana alias Sharif led the attackers. Sharif was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police.

The cases over the murders of Avijit, and LGBT rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his theatre activist friend Mahbub Tonoy came under the CTTC unit’s jurisdiction last month.

Monirul said two people – Shariful Islam Keramat and Rashidunnabi Bhuiyan Tipu – were arrested in connection with the case over the killings of Xulhaz and Tonoy.

Shariful in a confessional statement before court said he had supplied the weapons used in the attack and sheltered one of the accused, Monirul said.

He said it would be possible to file the chargesheet in Avijit murder case by Feb 26, the third anniversary of the incident.

“But it will take time to complete the investigation into the murders of Xulhaz and Tonoy,” he added.