Where are they?

Two Gulshan attack survivors, who were taken into custody after the 11-hour café siege, have yet to return home, family members say while police claim they were “released” after questioning.    

Tahmid Hasib Khan, 22, and Hasnat Karim, 47, along with all the other survivors, were taken by the Detective Branch of police for interrogation after the Holey Artisan Bakery standoff ended on July 2.

“We released them after questioning,” Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told this newspaper yesterday.

However, families say they could not yet contact Tahmid and Hasnat and that the two seem to have just vanished.

The duo was not shown arrested in a case or produced before court.

“I am anxious about his safety,” Hasnat Karim's father Rezaul Karim told The Daily Star yesterday.

He added that he wrote to the DMP commissioner and the IGP in the last couple of days and wanted to know where his son is and if it is possible to talk to him over the phone at least for once.

Tahmid's brother Talha Khan, who lives in Toronto, told Canadian TV channel CTV News on Sunday that Tahmid was “officially taken in as a witness”.

He pleaded for the safe return of his brother.

Tahmid, a student of a university in Toronto, came home a day before the attack. He went to the restaurant with two female students of a private university on the night of July 1 when the gunmen stormed the upscale eatery and held diners hostage. 

During the siege, Tahmid was seen standing near the door of the café with a firearm, DB sources said.

Hasnat, who holds British citizenship, was allowed to leave the restaurant with his family members before the commando operation was launched to end the hostage crisis on the morning of July 2.

He is a former teacher of a private university of Bangladesh.