Dhaka cafe 'hostage' Tahmid to walk free, his lawyers say as court grants him bail

Tahmid Hasib Khan, a freed Gulshan cafe attack 'hostage' arrested as a suspect, has been granted bail.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Laskar Sohel Rana ordered Tahmid freed on bail on Sunday in a case filed under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, allowing police to arrest suspects without warrants.

His counsels have claimed now there is no bar on the release of Aftab Bahumukhi Farms Limited Managing Director Fazle Rahim Khan's son.

Police, however, filed a petition seeking permission to investigate an allegation against Tahmid relating to concealing of information.

The court will announce its decision on the petition on Wednesday, Court Police Sub-Inspector Ranap Kumar Bhakta told bdnews24.com.

Former North South University teacher Hasanat Rezaul Karim and Tahmid were among 13 hostages freed from Holey Artisan Bakery and O' Kitchen early on July 2 following the carnage of the preceding night.

At least 20 hostages, including 17 foreign nationals, and two policemen were murdered by Islamist militants before the rescue raid.

All the freed hostages were taken to the Detective Branch office and released after questioning, police said. But Tahmid and Hasanat did not return home. Their families alleged that police were holding them in custody.

The duo were arrested from different places on Aug 3. Hasanat was shown arrested in the Gulshan attack case but Tahmid was not charged in the case.

Some of the photos of the attack disseminated on social media show Tahmid carrying a gun in company with Hasanat and Rohan Ibn Imtiaz, one of the attackers killed in the rescue raid.

Tahmid's family said the student of a university in Canada had returned the day before the attack and had gone to the eatery to have Iftar with his friends.

Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, the suspected café attack mastermind killed in a raid in Narayanganj later, was also from Canada.