Staff Reporter :
Police are hunting for the mastermind assailants of blogger Avijit Roy to prepare the chargesheet of the murder case.
The cop could not submit the chargesheet in the murder of writer Avijit after passing two years as the masterminds of the sensational attack on the free-thinker and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya in February 2015 could not be nabbed yet.
Investigators said that they were waiting to arrest the five, who were involved in the assassination of the free-thinking writer. They claimed that they had identified the perpetrators and cleared about their motive.
The members of the law enforcing agencies are conducting raids to nab the identified five assailants, they added.
Meanwhile, the Detective Branch (DB) pleaded 15 times to the court for extending the deadline to submit the probe report in the last two years.
DB’s Deputy Commissioner Md Mashruqur Rahman Khaled said that eight persons have been arrested over the killing so far.
“Since the killing of Avijit, several others, including online activists, writers, publishers, and members from the minority communities have been attacked or killed in similar fashion by machete-wielding attackers, targeting the head to ensure immediate death,” the DB official said.
Two suspects in the murder of Avijit Roy seen in the still image taken from CCTV footage were released by police, he said.
Explaining the delay over submitting the chargesheet, the DB officer Khaled said, “The chargesheet has to state the name of the suspects.”
Khaled said the process to bring back the evidences sent to the FBI is underway.
On June 19 last year, police released video footage from a CCTV camera showing Avijit and Bonya being followed by a youth on leaving the Ekushey Book Fair.
Police claimed that the youth seen in the video was Mukul Rana alias ‘Sharif, a ‘key operative’ of banned group the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).
Hours before the footage was released, police informed the media of a man’s death in the city’s Khilgaon in what they described as a ‘shootout’. The law enforcers later identified him as Sharif.
Police had said then the 30-year-old used several other aliases like Sakib, Saleh, Arif and Hadi. The youth was later identified as Mukul Rana by his family.
According to another source, sacked Bangladesh Army Major Ziaul Haque had masterminded the killing. Police are trying to arrest him. They hope to glean significant information from him.
Avijit’s father Ajoy Roy said, “He did not lose hope.”
Police believe they will be able to arrest Zia within a few days. There’s a Tk 20 million reward on him. Someone will come up with information of him.”
Earlier, Avijit Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya were attacked on the Dhaka University campus on the night of February 26, 2015.
Avijit suffered a deep gash on his head and died while Bonya survived but lost a finger in the attack.
