Staff Reporter :
A special tribunal in Dhaka on Wednesday accepted the charge sheet against eight persons in a case filed in connection with the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in the city’s Gulshan in 2016.
The court also delivered an order to release former North South University teacher Hasnat Reza Karim, whose name was dropped from the charge sheet submitted on 23 July.
Hasnat Karim was rescued along with 12 others during the commando operation into the Holey Artisan Bakery in the city’s Gulshan area on 2 July 2016 following a 12-hour hostage standoff.
Judge Mujibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka passed the order after hearing the charges brought against them.
The detained six charge-sheeted accused were produced in the court during the hearing. They are Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, Rashedul Islam alias Rash, Sohel Mahfuz alias Hatkata Mahfuz, Rakibul Islam Reagan, Mizanur Rahman alias Boro Mizan, and Hadisur Rahman Sagor.
Two others – Shariful Islam Khalid and Mamunur Rashid Ripon – are absconding.
The court also issued an arrest warrant against the two charge-sheeted accused who are on the run and asked officer-in-charge of Gulshan police station to submit a report on the execution of the arrest warrant on 16 August.
On July 23, police pressed charges against eight of the 21 militants who they say wanted to destabilise Bangladesh by initiating the country’s worst-ever terror incident about two years ago.
Twenty-two people, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, one Bangladeshi-born American and two Bangladeshis, were killed in the terror attack on the restaurant on 1 July 2016.
