Tanvir lived in same hideout with Tamim

Tanvir Kaderi, the man who killed himself during a police raid in Azimpur, had lived at a militant hideout in Bashundhara with the Gulshan café attack mastermind Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury.

Tanvir's wife Abedatul Fatema alias Khadiza, who was wounded during the raid, disclosed this to the investigators of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

She also lived at the Bashundhara den along with her children. 

“Although they all lived at the Bashundhara residence on Road 6 in Block E, Khadiza never talked to Tamim or any other male members of the group,” Deputy Commissioner of CTTC Mohibul Islam told The Daily Star.

Since Khadiza is undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, they are yet to interrogate her extensively, the officer added.

While Tanvir committed suicide during the raid at a militant den in Azimpur on September 10, Khadiza and two other women were arrested.

The two other women suspects include Afrin alias Priyoti, wife of key militant suspect Nurul Islam Marzan. 

Khadiza, who completed honours and master's from mass communication & journalism department at Dhaka University, is so radicalised that she still believes they were on the right path, an investigator told The Daily Star yesterday.

She left a lucrative job at an international NGO at the end of April. She was the manager of corporate partnership at Save the Children Bangladesh, said Abdul Quayyum, senior manager (communications and media) at the organisation.

Her husband also left his job at a private bank last year, saying he would no longer associate himself with an organisation that lends money on interest.  

Using different names he rented flats at different parts of the city for the militants and the Bashundhara flat was one of those. Gulshan attackers lived at the flat immediately before the attack on July 1, police say.

Bangladeshi-Canadian Tamim accompanied the attackers up to a certain point in Gulshan from the Bashundhara hideout and left after bidding them farewell minutes before the café siege, according to investigators.

Tamim along with his two associates were killed during a raid in Narayanganj on August 27.

He had identified himself as Shaykh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif, the "Amir of the Khilafah's Soldiers in Bengal," in the 12th issue of Islamic State's propaganda magazine Dabiq in November last year.

Meanwhile, Tanvir's father Abdul Baten Kaderi, a retired government employee, said he was completely shocked to know what became of his son and daughter-in-law.

“Tanvir was a very good man who never lied and committed a crime. I demand punishment of those who brainwashed him,” he told The Daily Star.