Confusion follows death of 2 staff

The death of two Holey Artisan Bakery staff has led to confusion, as their colleagues who were at the Gulshan eatery during the bloody siege as well as families claim the duo was not associated with the gunmen.

One of the two, Saiful Chowkidar, 34, was a pizza chef at the bakery in the diplomatic zone of Gulshan, Dhaka.   

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He was named as an accused in a case filed on July 4 over the terror incident.

Apart from Saiful, the five youths -- widely identified as the gunmen who stormed the bakery and held diners hostage on the night of July 1 -- were also made accused in the case.

According to the case statement, Saiful died in the commando operation launched in the morning of July 2 to end the siege.

The five youths too were killed in the operation after they butchered nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian and three Bangladeshis.

The other staff, Zakir Hossain Shaon, 19, who was detained as a suspect, died of wounds at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Friday. He breathed his last at 5:15pm, according to doctors.

According to his family and colleagues, he used to do the dishes at the bakery. They claim he had no links with the gunmen or any terror group or activities.

His younger brother, who worked at the house of a Holey Artisan Bakery owner, managed the job for Shaon, said their father Abdus Sattar.

Hospital and morgue sources said Shaon suffered splinter wounds and there were “marks of beating” on his body.

Contacted, Dhaka Medical College's Assistant Professor Sohel Mahmud, who conducted Shaon's autopsy, only said the body bore splinter marks. “But we need more examinations to ascertain the cause of his death.”   

Shaon was not named in the case. He was detained by law enforcers from near the bakery during the siege, well before the commandoes entered the eatery, according to photos and footages seen in the media.

About Saiful, the case statement said he was a staff at the eatery. But he was with the terrorists and assisted them during the attack, it added.

On condition of anonymity, a staff said it didn't occur to him that Saiful collaborated with the militants.

“As the pizza maker, Saiful worked at the entrance of the bakery and he was probably the first to be attacked and beaten by the gunmen. Seeing this, most of us ran into the bathroom.”

They saw a gunman pointing his gun at Saiful when he and eight others were forced out of the bathroom by other militants, he added.  

On July 6, news agency Reuters reported that Bangladeshi police said one of the men they shot dead during the siege may have been a hostage killed by mistake.

“We killed six people in the restaurant … The sixth man was a restaurant employee,” Reuters quoted a “top police official investigating the attack” as saying.

“He may not be involved,” he said, adding that the investigation was going on, according to the report.

Monirul Islam, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and chief of Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime unit, told this newspaper that both Shaon and Saiful were on the suspect list.

Shaon was taken to the DMCH by police two days after the attack, said sources at the hospital's police outpost.

His poor parents and extended family members, who attended him at the hospital, said Shaon seemed to have lost his mind and kept saying, “Please don't hit me anymore.”

After his death at the DMCH intensive care unit, family members said “marks of beating” were all over his body.

They also alleged that he was “tortured to death”.

His mother Masuda Begum told The Daily Star that Shaon called her around 7:30pm on July 1 and promised he would reach home in Narayanganj with his salary and Eid bonus.

According to the case statement, the gunmen took the Gulshan bakery around 8:45pm.

The family received Shaon's body on Saturday afternoon following autopsy. 

On the other hand, Saiful's family members at Naria upazila in Shariatpur said they thought Saiful must have been killed by mistake.

They added that he worked for Holey Artisan for about 18 months and he had learnt baking while working at a restaurant in Germany for about 10 years.

The family has yet to receive Saiful's body.

Assistant Commissioner Rafiqul Islam of DMP (Gulshan zone) said Saiful's family verbally contacted them for the body. “They were asked to submit a written application.”

Police have questioned people in Naria to know if Saiful had any militant link, according to sources.