Dhaka: Chargesheet in the case of July 1, 2016 militant attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan area of the capital city will be submitted to the concerned court next month as investigation into the matter reached its final stage.

The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the police has investigated the militant attack which killed 20 people, mostly foreign nationals, and two police officials.

Talking to BSS, Md Monirul Islam, chief of CTTC, said, ‘The investigation into the radical attack has almost been completed with revealing the involvement of 21 operatives of the militant outfit- neo-Jama‘atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (neo-JMB)-in the carnage.’

The CTTC chief said, of the 21 JMB operatives, 13 were killed in a series of nationwide anti-militant drives by the law enforcers following the brutal attack.

‘We have so far arrested seven persons for their direct involvement in planning and execution of the attack and six of them have given confessional statements under the Section 164,’ said Monirul Islam, an additional commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

A total of 20 people, including five foreign nationals, who were held hostages in the cafe, by the attackers on that tragic night, also gave confessional statement before the court narrating their horrible experience of the incident, Monirul added.

‘We have become clear about everything from planning to execution of the attack after a thorough investigation into the matter,’ Md Asaduzzaman Mia, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said.

According to the investigators, the arrested accused are: Rakibul Islam Regan, Hadisur Rahman Sagor, Jahangir Hossain Rajeeb alias Rajeeb Gandhi, Aslam Hossain Rashed alias Rash, Abdus Sabur Khan alias Sohel Mahfuj, Mizanur Rahman alias Baro Mizan and Prof Hasnat Karim of North South University.

Police also found direct involvement of two other fugitive suspected militants, Mamunur Rashid alias Ripon and Shariful Islam Khaled, a former student of the English department of the Rajshahi University (RU).

Khaled is also a charge-sheeted accused in the RU Professor Rezaul Karim murder case.

Five militants, who directly carried out the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery, were killed in a joint operation by law enforcers on the spot, the investigators said.

Eight top leaders of the neo-JMB-Tamim Chowdhury, Nurul Islam Marjan, Major Zahidul Islam, Sarwar Jahan, Tanveer Quaderi, Md Mizanur Rahman alias Chhoto Mizan, Abu Rayhan alias Tareq and Basharuzzaman alias Choklet, were also later killed in the nationwide anti-militant operations after the deadly attack.