GULSHAN CAFÉ ATTACK Investigation to be closed by this year

Dhaka Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit chief Monirul Islam said on Friday that the investigation into the extremist attack on a Gulshan café on July 1, 2016 would be completed by this year.
At a briefing at the metropolitan police media centre, he said that they had already identified over two dozen people involved in the attack.
Of the identified suspects, 14 were killed and four were arrested, he said, adding that at least seven were in hiding.
‘We are examining the role of each of the suspects,’ said the counter-terrorism unit chief at the briefing organised to disclose the arrest of Mufti Abul Kashem, 52, alias Bara Hujur.
He claimed that Kashem of Kurigram had approved the plan of the attacks on the café, Holey Artisan Bakery, at Gulshan that killed 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners, and two police officials. Army commandoes ended the 12-hour long siege, leaving five suspected extremists and a cook killed.
Monirul said that Kashem held a meeting with Bangladeshi-Canadian Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury in Rajshahi in end of the 2013 or beginning of 2014. Tamim was later killed along with two others in a police raid in Narayanganj on August 27, 2016.
He claimed that they arrested Kashem at Parbata Senpara of MIrpur in Dhaka at about 11:00pm on Thursday when he was trying to withdraw Tk 15,000 from a bKash account.
Monirul claimed that Kashem was principal of a madrassah at Ranirbandar in Dinajpur and he had inspired Tamim and extremists. 
Kashem was a senior leader of Jamaat ul Mujahideen Bangladesh and led the Islamist outfit after the arrest of JMB leader Saidur Rahman but later he became a JMB faction chief, said Monirul
Kashem wrote at least three books jihadi books in various names which inspired the Gulshan café attackers. 
Later in the day, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Sattyapada Shikdar remanded Kashem in police custody for seven days for interrogation in a case filed following police operation at Kallyanpur in Dhaka on July 26, 2016 that left nine people killed. 
During the remand hearing, investigation officer of the case Muhammad Jahangir Alam, said that Tamim Chowdhury had met Kashem on his arrival from Canada, and Kashem inspired extremists to commit crimes.
Kashem, however, told the court that he was arrested on May 20, 2016 had been detained in Detective Branch office since then. ‘I was kept with nine engineers of Biman [who were arrested in December 2016 over a VVIP flight glitch]. I was brutally tortured.’
Then Kashem showed a lawyer and told the court that the lawyer was in custody for a day and they met there.
Monirul denied the allegation and said that Kashem was arrested on Thursday but criminals sometimes gave false information.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net