Three Years of Avijit Murder: 7 held by Rab 'not directly involved'

Two and a half years back, the Rapid Action Battalion arrested seven suspects and claimed they were involved in the 2015 killing of writer Avijit Roy.

Now the officials of DMP's counterterrorism unit, which is tasked with the investigation, say they have not found any “direct involvement” of those held by Rab.

“We so far have not find any direct involvement of the seven persons whom Rab detained and detectives showed arrested in the case,” Monirul Islam, chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, told reporters yesterday.

Bangladesh-born US citizen Avijit was hacked to death on the Dhaka University campus on February 26, 2015 while returning from Ekushey Book Fair with his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, who was also badly injured in the attack.

Law enforcers have yet to file a charge sheet in the much talked about case, leaving the family and friends of the free-thinking blogger doubtful about getting justice. 

Months after the murder, Rab's Legal and Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan said Towhidur Rahman, a Bangladesh-born UK citizen, had assigned five members of radical group Ansarullah Bangla Team to carry out the killing mission.

Towhidur and six others -- Shafiul Rahman Farabi, Sadekur Rahman Mithu, Alimul Mallik, Abul Bashar, Julhaj Biswas and Jafran Al Hasan -- were arrested at different times in 2015.

On February 26 that year, the five operatives -- Mithu, Ramjan alias Siam, Nayeem, Julhash and Jafran -- gathered on the playground of Mohsin Hall [of Dhaka University] three hours before the murder of Avijit, said Mufti.

They attacked and killed Avijit as instructed, the Rab official told the media.

Abul Bashar, brother of Ansarullah Bangla Team's spiritual leader Jashim Uddin Rahmani, died in jail custody while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in December 2016.

Towhidur, Mithu, Julhaj and Jafran are on bail.

Yesterday, Monirul Islam, chief of CTTC unit, said they have found involvement of Major (sacked) Syed Ziaul Haque, militant wing chief of Ansar Al Islam, and eight operatives of the militant body in the killing.

Ansar Al Islam was previously known as Ansarullah Bangla Team.

The CTTC officials arrested three of the nine in November last year while five others including Maj (sacked) Zia are still on the run. The other was killed in a “shootout” in 2016, Monirul said.

Zia masterminded the attack and he himself was present on the scene at the time of killing, said the official.

The three arrested by the CTTC unit are Abu Siddique Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid, student of Government Titumir College; Mozammel Hossain alias Saimon, student of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, and Arafat Rahman alias Siam alias Sazzad. 

CTTC officials, who took over the investigation from the Detective Branch three months ago, said these suspects were identified from CCTV footage of the book fair.

Sharif alias Saleh alias Arif alias Hadi, another suspect in the Avijit murder, was killed reportedly in a “gunfight” with law enforcers in the city's Khilgaon on June 19, 2016.

“I am not bothered about what Rab or counterterrorism unit says. I just want killers of Avijit to be identified through proper investigation and brought to book,” Avijit's father Prof Ajoy Roy told The Daily Star yesterday. 

Sharing the news of Mozammel's arrest by CTTC officials, Avijit's wife Bonya, in her Facebook post on November 19 last year, wrote, “Great! We have another 'REAL' killer AGAIN. Let's do the DNA analysis before you kill him in 'Crossfire' while he is in police custody and confirm it.”

Contacted, human rights activist Nur Khan Liton said the unethical competition between the law enforcement agencies for claiming success often calls into question the entire investigation.

Sometimes, the way investigating agency presents an incident just to get praise doesn't go with subsequent findings, he added.

Nur Khan further said contradictory statements give a wrong message to the nation and create dissatisfaction among the victims' families.

DELAY IN CHARGE SHEET SUBMISSION

Monirul yesterday also said they will submit the charge sheet once they can arrest at least two out of the five fugitives.

“If it takes too much time to arrest all the five, we may not wait as we already have enough evidence, witness accounts and confessional statement of the three arrestees to go to the court,” he said.

But for a successful probe, all the five are needed to be arrested, he added. 

About the delay, Avijit's father said, “It's the negligence of investigators and lack of skill of police for which the investigation into a sensational murder like that of Avijit is not complete yet.”

CTTC officials, however, claimed to have major progress in investigation.

“We have identities of two of the five but need to verify that of three others to complete the investigation,” said an official of the unit. 

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court has rescheduled the submission date for the Avijit murder case investigation report for March 15 after the investigation officer failed to submit the report on February 13.

With this, the investigators on 35 occasions got time extension for submitting the progress report of the probe, court sources said.