Trial of Holey Artisan case begins
A tribunal in Dhaka yesterday started the trial of the sensational case filed over the terror attack on Holey Artisan Café in the capital's Gulshan area in July 2016 with recording of the complainant's testimony.
Sub-Inspector of Gulshan Police Station Ripon Kumar Das, the first prosecution witness and also the complainant of the case, gave his statement before the Anti-terrorism Special Tribunal.
Ripon narrated his experience of how the law enforcement agencies and army personnel completed the operation and rescued the victims following the harrowing attack that took place on July 1, 2016.
Tribunal Judge Majibur Rahman recorded SI Ripon's statement for over two hours and later, defence lawyers for two of the accused were cross-examined.
During the hearing, six of the accused, now in jail, were produced before the court under tight security.
As the defence could not complete cross-examining the complainant, the tribunal fixed today for next hearing of the case.
Earlier in the day, the tribunal appointed five state lawyers -- Shahid Uz Zaman, Mahfuzur Rahman Chowdhury, Setara Fouzia Salam and Farhana Kuddus Sweety -- to defend six accused.
While another lawyer Faruque Ahmed was appointed by two other accused -- Aslam Hossain alias Rash and Raqibul Hassan alias Regan.
In his deposition, Ripon said he got a message over wireless that some miscreants were firing inside the café around 7:45pm on July 1 of 2016.
Soon after the news, he along with his forces went to the spot and saw the militants firing gunshots chanting slogan “Allahu Akbar” that left some 30 to 35 policemen injured. They were admitted to the United Hospital for treatment.
Of them, the then officer-in-charge of Banani Police Station Salauddin Khan and AC of Detective Branch of Police Rabiul Karim died.
In the meantime, Inspector General of Police (IGP) visited the hospital and place of the occurrence and later, as per instructions from the higher authorities, the army para commandos conducted an operation around 7:40am to rescue the hostages and arrest the miscreants.
The commandos rescued 19 people including two foreigners alive. A total of 26 bodies, including the five militants who were killed in the operation, were recovered from the spot.
On July 4, Ripon filed a case with Gulshan Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act bringing allegation against the militants for creating “unrest” in Bangladesh and turn it into a “terrorist state”.
On November 26, the tribunal framed charges against eight alleged militants in the case. Two of them are still on the run.
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