No headway in probe frustrates father

Prof Ajay Roy could not help but wonder about the investigators' failure to come up with a list of suspects even after nearly a month into the killing of his son Avijit Roy, a writer and blogger.

But Ajay revealed several clues to help law enforcers hunt down the murderers at the earliest.

Though he became hopeful of a quick probe after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) joined hands with the local law enforcers, he was frustrated to announce yesterday that the detectives did not have much to share with people about the killing till now.    

"I have given the investigators in the DB office photographs and name of each of them (the suspects) present there (with Avijit) that day," said Ajay, referring to his last correspondence with the investigators almost three weeks back.

The correspondence followed his discovery of the fact that Avijit and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya had attended a meeting on Bangla Academy book fair premises just before they came out of the venue to be attacked by assailants. Bonya survived the hacking, near Raju sculpture on Dhaka University on February 26.  

According to Ajay, the meeting was organised by a Buet teacher, Farseem Mannan Mohammedy, whom he identified as an adviser to a publication called "Zero to Infinity", a science magazine published by alleged Islami Chhatra Shibir activists.

Farseem did not respond to the phone call of this correspondent.

"I am not aware about the probe making any progress after a month into the murder," Ajay said, at a meeting of Nagarik Committee at Dhaka University.

Immediately after the murder, Prof Ajay, a recipient of the country's highest civilian award, had suspected involvement of militants.

He mentioned in the case statement, besides providing copies of the death threats the militants had given to his son on social media platforms, that militants had targeted Avijit for long.

"I have always told investigators that the probe should look into every possible clue... so that the real murderers don't get away, making innocents the scapegoat," Ajay told The Daily Star after the meeting.

Prof Anizuzzaman who presided over the meeting reminded everyone that the murderers appeared to be fundamentalists.

"We must not forget that fundamentalism has very close ties with terrorism and intolerance to dissenting opinions," he said.

"We will be confused and make others confused if we forget this fact."

After the murder, police arrested Shafiur Rahman Farabi, operative of a banned militant outfit, who had issued at least a dozen death threats to Avijit for what he said demeaning Islam.

Though Avijit tried to play on logic to point out that Farabi was misquoting him, Farabi kept saying on Facebook that it was a Farz (must) for Muslims to kill Avijit. 

Ansar Bangla 7, presumed to be an organisation of militants, celebrated the murder in a tweet and claimed responsibility for it.

The organisation evoked names like Ansarullah Bangla Team and Ansar Al Islam, which have claimed responsibility for two separate murders, including of another secular blogger, since 2013.     

DU Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, politicians Mojahidul Islam Selim and Nuh Ul Alam Lenin, Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali, prominent citizens Khandker Ibrahim Khaled, Dr Sarwar Ali and Fariduddin Ahmed also participated in the meeting.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday placed Shafiur Rahman Farabi, the prime suspect in the killing of blogger Avijit Roy, on a fresh four-day remand in a case filed under the Information and Communication Technology Act.

The order came after investigators produced him before the court on completion of his five-day remand.

Wahiduzzaman, an inspector of Detective Branch (DB) of police and also the investigation officer of the case, had sought a seven-day remand for Farabi.

Earlier on Saturday, he was put on a five-day remand in the same case.

Fazlur Rahaman, Inspector of Detective Branch of police, filed the case against Farabi with Ramna Police Station on March 14 for issuing threats to kill Avijit through a number of posts on Facebook.

Farabi was arrested on March 2 and placed on a 10-day remand in connection with the Avijit murder case the flowing day.

During the remand that ended on March 14, detectives searched his blog and Facebook account and found that Farabi issued threats to many people, which is an offence under the ICT Act.

Farabi, however, denied his involvement in the murder.

Unknown assailants hacked Bangladeshi born American citizen Avijit to death and injured his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya on the Dhaka University campus on February 26.