Court wants probe report by May 17

A Dhaka court yesterday once again asked the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police to submit by May 17 the probe report of the case filed over the Holey Artisan Bakery attack in Gulshan in July 2016.

Metropolitan Magistrate Nurunnahar Yasmin gave the order after CTTC Inspector Humayun Kabir, also the case's investigation officer, failed to submit any probe report to it by yesterday. With this, the CTTC got 17 time extensions for filing the report.

Earlier, the CTTC unit arrested seven people including six suspected militants and a former private university teacher. Of them, six “militants” gave confessional statements before magistrates on different dates. In their statements, the militants, now behind the bars, said they were directly involved in the heinous offence, court sources said.

The arrestees are Hasnat Reza Karim, former teacher of North South University; Mizanur Rahman alias Boro Mizan, an active Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operative; Zahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, one of the “key planners” of the attack; Rakibul Hasan alias Regan, and “Neo JMB” militant Sohel Mahfuz, who supplied the grenades used in the attack, “Neo JMB” militant Aslam Hossain alias Rash, “arms trainer” of the Gulshan café attackers, and “Neo JMB” militant Hadisur Rahman Sagor, “arms supplier” of the attack.

Gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital's Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1, 2016, and killed 20 hostages, mostly foreign nationals. Two police officials were also killed during the 12-hour hostage standoff.

Later, a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act was filed with Gulshan Police Station.