Tahmid Hasib Khan, third from left, an undergraduate at the University of Toronto who has Canadian residency, comes out after a court appearance with his relatives, in Dhaka, Bangladesh Wednesday, October 5, 2016.
Bangladeshi origin Canadian student Tahmid Hasib Khan, a survivor of the July 1 Gulshan café attack in Dhaka, on Wednesday was finally relieved of suspicion of involvement in the attack.
Dhaka Metropolitan magistrate Nur Nabi also relieved former North South University teacher Hasnat Karim, also a survivor, of suspicion as he was already implicated and shown arrested in the case filed for the café attack that killed 22 people including 17 foreigners.
General registration officer of the court Ronop Kumar Bhakta told reporters that Tahmid was relieved of suspicion as police found no involvement of Tahmid in the attack while Hasnat was relieved of suspicion as police primarily found his link with the attackers.
The acquittal set Tahmid free, but Hasnat would remain behind the bars, Ronop said.
The case was filed with Gulshan police on July 4 under The Anti-Terrorism Act for the in connection with the café attack.
The two were arrested at places in the capital on August 3 on suspicion of their involvement in the café attack.
On October 2, Tahmid was released on bail granted by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Laskar Sohel Rana, responding to a petition moved by Tahmid’s counsel.
On September 28, inspector Humyan Kabir of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police submitted a report to a court to relieve Tahmid of suspicion stating that the investigation found his no involvement in the café attack.
On August 20, a court sent Tahmid to jail rejecting his bail prayer when he was produced before the court on completion of interrogation in custody.
Twenty-two people, including 17 foreigners and two police officials were killed in the café attack. Army commandoes stormed the cafe the next morning, killing five attackers and rescuing 13 people.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, but police claimed that home-grown extremist group Jammatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh made the attack.
Families of both Tahmid and Hasnat have previously said that the two had been kept detained by the security forces since they were rescued from the cafe and claimed that there was no evidence to link them to the attackers and that they were no more than innocent bystanders.
– See more at: http://www.newagebd.net/article/302/tahmid-cleared-of-charges-finally#sthash.pzJQ0FHA.dpuf
Source: New Age
