Nurul Islam Marjan and Rajib Gandhi alias Subhash Gandhi alias 'Gandhi', believed to have had a prominent role in the deadly Gulshan café and Sholakia terrorist attacks, did not flee the country. Marjan, a commander of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group, and Gandhi supplied trained terrorists to carry out attacks at both places.
A highly-placed source told The Daily Observer that they had learnt about Marjan and Rajib by scrutinising some 26 mobile phones recovered from Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan after the Operation Thunderbolt by the armed forces on July 2.
Investigators said his name surfaced during investigations. He is known to have served the JMB as its commander for the North, intelligence sources said.
Police also indentified another mastermind of Gulshan café attack who have important role as aide of Bangladeshi origin Canadian citizen Tamim Chowdhury who was killed when police raided a terrorists' den in Narayangong.
Rajib sent two terrorists for the Gulshan café attack and one for the Sholakia assault North Bengal, both of whom he had personally trained, Monirul Islam, chief of counterterrorism unit of DMP's said earlier
He said investigating agencies believe that Rajib Gandhi is still in the country.
It is also suspected that two other suspected masterminds of the attack -- sacked army Major Syed Mohamad Ziaul Haque are staying in Dhaka, Monirul further said.
They are Khalid Hasan alias Badar Mama of Chapainawabganj, JMB's northern region military wing commander, and his associate Ripon ( of Rajshahi who were killed by police during a gunfight). Khalid and Ripon gave some important information to the investigators. On the basis of the information police might have arrested the commander and trainer respectably, Nurul Islam Marjan and Rajib but that has not yet been confirmed.
Monirul Islam, chief of counterterrorism unit of DMP's said earlier that investigations in terror hideouts in Kalyanpur, Narayanganj, Roopnagar and Azimpur following the two attacks, revealed that arrested terrorists had links with the ones who had been killed.
Monirul claimed the Neo-JMB, which had been responsible for the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks, had deployed their full force to execute the operations.
"Many of these people have been killed," he said. "Four such commanders died during the Kalyanpur raid. Then Major Jahid Tanvir Qaderi. They were also prominent leaders (of the outfit)".
It is also believed that two other suspected masterminds of the attack, including sacked army Major Syed Mohamad Ziaul Haque are staying in Dhaka,
According to police, Tamim "masterminded" the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks, while sacked army Mjor Ziaul had a hand in the targeted killings.
Twenty-two people including 17 foreigners lost their lives when militants mounted an unprecedented attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on the night of July 1. The next morning's military operation led to the killing of five terrorists while 13 hostages were rescued alive.
Terrorists struck again within a week on July 7, this time on the largest Eid-ul-Fitr congregation in Sholakia. Two police guards posted at the security gate died while trying to thwart their attempts.
According to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors global terror activities, IS claimed responsibility for the attack. The government, however, says there is no IS presence in Bangladesh.
