Held photojourno now admits going to crime scene

A Sylhet photojournalist now on a seven-day remand after denying arriving at the crime scene minutes after blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was hacked to death yesterday admitted that he had indeed gone there but claimed he was not involved in the murder.

"I denied my presence fearing harassment," Idris Ali of local daily Sobuj Sylhet was quoted as saying on the remand's third day by an officer of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is investigating the case.

The murder took place near Subid Bazar in Sylhet, around 250 yards from Ananta's residence, on May 12 around 8:45am.

CID got hold of a photograph showing Ananta lying in a pool of blood and the legs of four persons, three of whom were local journalists who said they were performing their professional duties and who identified Idris as the fourth.

Suspicion was raised when Idris denied, leading to his arrest on June 7.

Another CID official said they were investigating whether Idris, a former member of an Islamist student organisation, had links with blogger Shafiur Rahman Farabi, the lone accused arrested over free thinker and writer Avijit Roy's murder in February. The official said they would soon seek to take Farabi on remand. CID Special Superintendent (organised crime) Mirza Abdullahel Baqui told The Daily Star that the way Ananta was murdered indicated it was an extremist group.