Gulshan Cafe Attack: From cook to a planner
A decade ago, he was an old JMB leader's cook. But his dedication to militancy earned him a top place in the “Neo JMB”.
He is a mastermind behind the Gulshan café siege. He not only participated in planning the country's worst-ever militant attack but also recruited and supplied two of the five attackers, said police.
The man, Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, 32, has been arrested.
“When 'Neo JMB' asked for attackers during one of its meetings in Bogra last March, Rajib came forward and supplied two men for the Gulshan and one for the Sholakia attacks,” said a counterterrorism official, wishing not to be named.
“Rajib is the only mastermind behind the Gulshan café attack who has been arrested alive,” said Monirul Islam, chief of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
Three more café attack masterminds might be on the run, he told a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre yesterday.
According to him, one of them is Basharuzzaman alias Chocolate. The names and identities of the other two were not disclosed for “strategic reasons”.
The militants might have some more top leaders and the matter would be clear after the interrogation of Rajib, he said.
Monirul said Rajib and his family had also stayed at the “operational house” in Bashundhara Residential Area where the Gulshan café attack was planned. He used to “guide” the attackers there.
However, the militant along with his family left the house for another den in Shewrapara area soon after the attack.
The CTTC unit arrested Rajib, also known inside his organisation “Neo JMB” as Shuvash, Shanto, Tiger, Adil and Jahid, at Elenga Bus Stand in Tangail on late Friday night.
Hailing from Bhutmara village in Gaibandha's Gobindaganj upazila, Rajib was trying to go somewhere in the northern part of the country following a short visit to the capital.
He was a cook for Abdul Awal, son-in-law of the executed chief of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Shaikh Abdur Rahman, in 2004 or 2005, said Monirul.
Rajib “witnessed” the execution of the countrywide serial blasts on August 17, 2005 as Awal was the coordinator of the attacks.
At that time, Rajib also worked as Awal's informant, delivering letters to different JMB dens in nearby districts riding bikes, he said.
However, following the execution of Awal and six other militants, including Abdur Rahman and his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai on March 30, 2007, Rajib became a close accomplice of old JMB Shura member Dr Nazrul Islam. He also received militant training from Nazrul, said the CTTC unit chief.
According to another police official, Rajib later killed Nazrul over a conflict within the outfit.
In early 2013, JMB split into two factions, and Rajib became an organiser and also a close accomplice of “Neo JMB” chief coordinator Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, who was killed along with two of his aides in a raid in Narayanganj on August 27 last year.
Apart from his involvement in the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks, Rajib also either directly took part or played important roles in 22 militant attacks in the northern regions of the country over the last couple of years, killing many.
Those who were killed include Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi, Tangail tailor Nikhil Joardar, Pabna priest Nityaranjan Pandey, Rangpur Khadem Rahmat Ali, Rajshahi University Professor Rezaul Karim and Panchagarh priest Jogeshwar Dasa Dhikari.
Investigations in some of those 22 murder or attempted-murder cases have been completed while the others are being probed, Monirul said.
Meanwhile, after talking to several people in Gaibandha's Bhutmara village, our correspondent in the district KM Rezaul Haque reported that Rajib and his wife was a couple who hardly mixed with the locals.
The couple has two sons aged seven and four.
Rajib's father, a carpenter, died three years ago and his mother works as a domestic help.
Rajib, who studied only up to class-V, had disappeared from the area along with his family two years ago, saying they were shifting to Bogra for their children's better education.
Asked about the “Neo JMB” plans at yesterday's press briefing, Monirul said just after the café attack on July 1, the militant outfit's next move was to create panic in the police force by killing its officials.
The outfit, however, dropped the idea after the CTTC unit conducted the Kalyanpur raid, also prompting Rajib to go into hiding somewhere in the northern part of the country.
Mahamudul Hasan Rigan, who was arrested during the raid, later confessed his involvement in the Holey Artisan attack, he said.
Replying to a query, the police official said it might take some time to prepare the charge sheet in the Gulshan attack case as “it was a big incident with too many victims, clues and witnesses”.
He also said Rajib would be of great help in solving the case.
Meanwhile, A Dhaka court yesterday placed Rajib on an eight-day remand after CTTC Inspector Humayun Kabir, also the investigation officer of the case, produced him before the court.
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