Two more witnesses testify

A Sylhet court yesterday recorded testimonies of two witnesses in the case filed for the murder of science writer, freethinker and blogger Ananta Bijoy Das, who was brutally hacked to death on May 12, 2015.

With these, testimonies of 18 witnesses out of 29 total has been recorded.

Anwarul Haque -- the judicial magistrate who recorded confessional statement of accused Mannan Yahya -- and Pubali Bank Limited senior official Sirajul Haque Chowdhury deposited their testimonies to the Anti-terrorism Special Tribunal of Sylhet, said Shahidul Islam Shahin, lawyer of the plaintiff.

Two accused -- Abul Khaer Rashid Ahmed and Shafiur Rahman Farabi-- also appeared before the tribunal.

After the witnesses' deposition, judge Md Nurul Amin Biplob of the tribunal set February 24 as next date for the case.

Ananta was hacked to death by a group of youths in Subidbazar area near his residence in Sylhet on May 12, 2015, when he was on a walk to his office with his sister.

Banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) claimed responsibility online for the murder.

Ananta's brother Ratneswar Das filed a murder case accusing some unnamed persons with the airport police station the next day, and the investigation was later handed over to CID.

On October 18, 2016, Arman Ali, inspector of CID and investigation officer of the case pressed a charge sheet but the court rejected the charge sheet and ordered CID to reinvestigate the case and file a supplementary charge sheet, which was filed on May 9 last year.

The accused in the charge sheet are Shafiur Rahman Farabi, Mannan Yahya alias Mannan Rahi, Abul Khaer Rashid Ahmed, Abul Hossain alias Abul Hussain, Harunur Rashid and Faisal Ahmed.

Among them, Farabi and Abul Khaer are in jail while Mannan Yahya, the only one among them confessed before the court, died on November 2, 2017 after he fell ill at Dhaka Central Jail. Other accused are on the run.