Two more witnesses testify before court
Two more prosecution witnesses yesterday testified before a Dhaka court in connection with a case filed over the terrorist attack in the capital's Holey Artisan Bakery in July 2016.
Judge Majibur Rahman of Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka recorded the statements of Lazalus Soren and Md Ashrafuzzaman, two staff members of the café.
The duo was also cross-examined by the defense counsel.
In his statement, Soren said he was an electrician of Holey Artisan, and was outside on the day. After getting a call from his wife at around 9pm, he went to the café.
He found the main gate of the restaurant locked, and a police van in front. After a while, a grenade went off with a loud bang that injured him seriously. Around midnight, police rescued him and took him to United Hospital for treatment. After four days, he was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Ashraf in his statement said he was a waiter in the restaurant, and was working there. All of a sudden, he heard a sound of bomb explosion at around 8:30pm. He also saw two youths with firearms, while another bomb exploded that created panic among guests.
“I went out from there through the pocket gate of the 'pizza house' and took shelter in Lake View Clinic. The following day at 10am, police took me to the eatery where they seized dead bodies, bullets, bombs and other materials from there,” said Ashraf, adding that he put his signature on the seizure list.
Earlier, six prosecution witnesses including the case's complainant gave their statements before the tribunal, which fixed January 10 for the next hearing. On July 23 last year, Inspector Humayun Kabir of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit pressed charges against eight persons. On November 26, the tribunal framed charges against them.
Comments