Police granted eight days to interrogate former NSU teacher Hasanat, expatriate Tahmid

A Dhaka court has granted police eight days each for former NSU teacher Hasanat Karim and expatriate Tahmid Hasib Khan.

Police produced the two before the court on Thursday and sought 10 days remand for them.

The two were among the rescued hostages from the Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen Restaurant, where the attackers killed 20 people.  

Police claim they were arrested on Wednesday night and booked under the Code of Criminal Procedure’s Section 54, which allows arrest without warrants on grounds of suspicion.

Tahmid was detained from the Bashundhara Residential Area and Hasanat from Gulshan, Dhaka metro police spokesperson Masudur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

Their families, however, had been maintaining that the two did not return since Jul 2, after being rescued from the cafe.

On the night of Jul 1, Islamist radical gunmen barged in to the eatery at Dhaka’s upscale neighbourhood and took the guests inside hostage.

The hostage-drama ended in the morning when army commandos stormed the restaurant, which was popular among foreigners in Dhaka.

But the attackers had already killed 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners. During the raid, six people, including five attackers were killed.

Middle East-based group the Islamic State reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack and released photos of the five attackers.

Law enforcers, however, say that home-grown militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were responsible for it.

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Thirty-two people, including 13 rescued hostages were taken to the Detective Branch office for de-briefing.

All of them were released, except for Hasanat and Tahmid, claimed their families.

Both Hasanat’s father AR Karim and Tahmid’s father Shahriar Khan told the media on several occasions that their sons are yet to return and that they suspect they were in police custody.

Hasanat R Karim and Tahmid Hasib Khan.

Until now, police had been evading questions about their whereabouts, but said that they were probable suspects.

In a media briefing on Tuesday, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said that Hasanat’s role was still not clear.

“His background and his behaviour on that day inside the cafe evoked suspicion. We are trying to gather concrete evidence against him. We can take him in custody whenever it’s necessary,” said Hoque.

Hasanat’s family claimed that he along with his wife and kids had gone to the restaurant to celebrate his daughter’s birthday.

Hasanat was relieved from his teaching job at NSU in 2012 on allegations of involvement with banned group Hizb-ut Tahrir.

One of the Gulshan cafe killers, Nibras Islam also studied at NSU.

Tahmid, whose father is a businessman, studies at a university in Canada. His family said that he had come to Dhaka a day before the attack and had gone to the cafe to hang out with his friends.