Staff Reporter :
Police have pressed charges against 23 people for involvement in terror attack into the Sholakia Eid congregation in Kishoreganj district in 2016.
The chargesheet was filed with the court on Wednesday, said Kishoreganj Superintendent of Police Mashrukur Rahman Khaled.
“The investigation took longer as it was a sensitive case. All of the 23 people charged with were involved with several terror attacks across the country. Eighteen of them have been killed during anti-terror raids, while the remaining five are behind the bars,” he told a media briefing.
The Investigation Officer (IO) of the case and Inspector (investigation) of Kishoreganj Sadar Police Station, Arifur Rahman, said that he got necessary instructions from the government.
Of the accused, Rajib Gandhi and Sohel Mahfuz gave confessional statements Under Section 164 in the court. Both Rajib and Sohel were included in the list of accused in the chargesheet of Holey Artisan Cafe attack case.
In his statement, Rajib Gandhi confessed that the New-JMB took preparations to carry out two large-scale bomb attacks (at Holey Artisan Cafe, at Gulshan in the capital and at Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj) mainly to upset the government and attract the attention of international militant organizations.
Police in their investigation found that New-JMB front ranking leaders Tamim Chowdhury, Major Zahid, Akash, Abir and Don separately visited the place of occurrence one day (July 6, 2016) ahead of the attack on July 7, 2016, around a week after the Holey Artisan Cafe attack.
Earlier on July 7 2016, when Muslims were celebrating the Eid-ul-Fitr, militants carried out a suicide attack near Sholakia Eid prayer ground, killing four people.
Two policemen and a suspected militant, Abir Rahman, died on the spot while one housewife died after a stray bullet hit her in the same neighbourhood. Eight policemen and three pedestrians suffered injuries.
The Sholakia incident came a week after the Gulshan café attack in Dhaka on July 1.
