No militant links found

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia yesterday said investigators found "not even the slightest" militant link with the murder of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella.

"Local and international conspirators are involved in the murder," he told reporters at a programme at the DMP headquarters.

The evidence and information collected by police didn't suggest that the murder was a work of militants, he claimed.

Tavella, a project manager of the Netherlands-based NGO ICCO Cooperation Bangladesh, was gunned down by three unidentified criminals in the high security diplomatic area in Gulshan on September 28.

Following the murder, SITE Intelligence Group -- a US-based company that tracks online activities of Jihadi organisations -- claimed that the Islamic State terrorists claimed responsibility for the murder through a social media post. It also presented a photograph containing some Arabic texts, saying it was text of the IS' post.

The government and top law enforcers had been refuting the claim since then, saying there is no presence of the IS in the country.  The ruling Awami League leaders started blaming their political foes -- BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and their allies.

"We have of course made some progress and achieved some success in the case ... Being the police commissioner I am satisfied with the progress of the investigation," the DMP commissioner said, adding they were trying their best to unravel the murder mystery.

"Give us time until we get sufficient concrete evidence and                  analytical information to prove the case before the court," he said, urging the journalists to keep faith in police.

The killers will soon be arrested and the masterminds will be identified, Asaduzzaman Mia said.

 At a separate press brief at the DMP Media Centre, DMP Joint Commissioner (Detective Branch) Monirul Islam said their activities were still largely centred on arresting the three gunmen.

Meanwhile, a Rangpur court placed Humayun Kabir Hira, a suspect in Japanese national Kunio Hoshi murder case, on a fresh remand on Wednesday.

A senior judicial magistrate's court granted five-day remand after Investigation Officer of the case Mamunur Rashid, also a sub-inspector of Kaunia Police Station, produced Hira before it. Hira was earlier remanded for 10 days in the same case.

Motorbike-riding gunmen killed Hoshi, 66, near his agriculture project at Alutari village in Rangpur's Kaunia on October 3, just five days into Tavella's murder.

In another development, Abed Mian, who worked at Hoshi's grass farm, was released from police custody on Wednesday night, said his son Monirul Islam. Plainclothes policemen picked up Abed on October 7 for questioning.

However, the families of five other detainees -- Monnaf Ali, on whose rickshaw Hoshi was riding when he was shot; locals Murad Hossain and Abdullah; Hira's wife Sultana Khatun; and Zakaria Bala, owner of the house where the Japanese lived -- yesterday alleged that police were still interrogating them without producing them before any court, though they were detained several days ago.