One month into the killing of popular blogger Avijit Roy, another blogger named Washiqur Rahman Babu was hacked to death allegedly by a group assailants at South Begunbari of Tejgoan industrial area of the city on Monday morning. Police said Washiqur, 26, a blogger and an employee of Far East Travels Ltd., was stabbed by a group of assailants, numbering at least three, near South Begunbari Jame Mosque around 10am, leaving him critically injured. Humayun Kabir, sub-inspector (SI) of the Tejgoan Industrial Police Station said a petrol team of police rescued the injured as well as caught two assailants red handed with three home-made sharp weapons as they were fleeing the scene after the incident. Washiqur was whisked off to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where the on-duty doctors declared him dead around 10:30am, confirmed SI Shahida of the police station. There arrested were identified as Jikrullah, 20, a student of Hathajari Madrassah, and Ariful Islam, 20, a student of Mirpur Section 1 Darul Ulum Madrassah. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) deputy commissioner (Tejgaon Zone) Biplob Kumar Sarkar at a press briefing at Tejgaon Police Station told reporters that the two arrested also revealed the name of another cohort Abu Taher. The details about Abu Taher could not be learnt immediately. Biplob Kumar Sarkar said the two arrested have admitted their involvement in the killing of Washiqur. “They planned to murder him (Washiqur) for publishing write-ups hurting religious sentiments,” he said. Among the arrested, Jikrullah arrived in Dhaka from Chittagong on Sunday and stayed the night at a mosque in Jatrabari area. The three alleged assailants also went to South Begunbari area on Sunday to make a scrutiny before implementing their plan. Earlier on February 26, blogger and writer Avijit Roy was killed and his wife Rafida Afrin Banya injured seriously as unidentified criminals stabbed them near TSC on the Dhaka University campus.—UNB, Dhaka.
