Dhaka: Stunned beyond his wits by the knowledge that his 20-year-old son was one of the attackers who hacked 20 people to death at a Dhaka café last week, S M Imtiaz Khan Babul, senior leader of Bangladesh's ruling Awami League has apologised to the family of Tarishi Jain, the Indian student who was killed in the gruesome massacre.
"An Indian girl was killed in the attack, I can only apologise to India and to her parents ...I can only say I am an unfortunate father. I don't have enough words to apologise," Imtiaz Khan Babul told NDTV.
He was referring to 18-year-old Tarishi Jain, a student at UC Berkley in America, she was visiting her father who works in Dhaka. Her family performed her last rites on Tuesday in India.
Read: What went wrong? Father of 18-year-old Dhaka terrorist seeks answers
Rohan Ibne Imtiaz, the son of S M Imtiaz Khan Babul, a leader of the party's Dhaka City chapter and Bangladesh Olympic Association's deputy secretary general. (Photo: AFP)
Babul’s son Rohan Ibne Imtiaz had first been identified as one of the Dhaka attackers by another Awami League leader.
"I identified my son from a picture released by the ISIS...I was stunned ...," Khan said.
Babul had lodged a police complaint on January 4 this year stating that his son had gone missing. According to the politician, his son had left home on December 30th, telling his parent that he was going to his University, never to return again, up until the dastardly attack on the Dhaka café.
Rohan had completed his A-levels from Scholastica, known as a school for the children of well-to-do families in Dhaka. His mother is a teacher at the school.
His father is baffled and distraught, wondering how his son got radicalised. “Where did he get his training, where did he go during the last six months," he said.
He described him as "a topper in class and math, a football fanatic and Man U supporter." All the Dhaka attackers were young men, from affluent, educated families and those who knew them are reeling under shock since their identities were made public.
