Dhaka: A Canadian citizen, arrested for his alleged involvement in the Dhaka cafe attack last month that claimed 22 lives, has been sent to judicial custody with investigators claiming that he has given crucial information about the assault.
Tahmid Hasib Khan, a 22-year-old student at the University of Toronto, was yesterday produced in court where Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Delwar Hossain ordered him sent to jail.
Police neither implicated him in the terror attack nor submitted a fresh remand prayer for him as they produced him in the court. However, the law enforcement agencies told the court that Tahmid should be kept under judicial custody for the sake of investigation, the Daily star reported.
"Tahmid gave crucial information about the Gulshan attack. We are scrutinising the information. So, he should be kept in jail until the investigation is completed," said
Inspector Humayun Kabir of the counter-terrorism unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police in the forwarding report submitted to the court.
Seeking Tahmid's release on bail, a defence lawyer, however, told the court that police took him on remand in two phases "but could not unearth anything as he was not involved in the incident."
Metropolitan Magistrate Md Delwar Hossain passed an order sending Tahmid to jail.
On August 3, Tahmid and Hasnat Karim, a former private university teacher in Bangladesh, were detained on suspicion of their link with the July 1 terror attack.
Both were placed in court and taken for eight days of interrogation starting August 4.
After the eight-day remand Hasnat Karim was shown arrested in the Gulshan attack case, becoming the first person to be accused in the terrorist attack. He was sent for more interrogation.
However, Tahmid, a permanent resident of Canada, was also placed on six-day remand, but he has not yet been shown arrested for the cafe attack in the heart of Dhaka's diplomatic enclave that killed 22 people, including foreigners and policemen.
The 11-hour standoff ended after commandos stormed into the cafe and killed the hostage-takers.
Tahmid and Hasnat were among the 32 hostages rescued by the commandos from the cafe.
