Dhaka, March 25 – Magistrate Sarfuzzaman Ansari of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka yesterday transferred blogger, Avijit Roy’s, murder trial to the anti-terrorism tribunal for
The CMM Court passed the order on Monday, after seeing the charge sheet filed in the murder case 2015 in connection with the US-based Bangladeshi writer Avijit.
Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Inspector, Mohammad Monirul Islam, who is also the case investigation officer, submitted the charge sheet before the court on March 14.
The six accused are, a sacked army major, Syed Ziaul Haque alias Major Zia, 42; Abu Siddique Sohel, 34; Mozammel Hossain alias Saymon alias Shahriar, Arafat Rahman alias Siam, 24; Shafiur Rahman Farabi, 29; and Akram Hossain alias Abir alias Adnan, 30.
Of them, Zia and Abir are still on the run. All six accused are members of the banned militant outfit, Ansar al-Islam, formerly known as, Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Meanwhile, Inspector Monirul Islam also pleaded to exclude 15 others from the case.
Fugitives, Major Zia and Abir, were the masterminds of the killing, while Farabi was charged with instigating the murder.
Md Mukul Rana, the leader of Ansar al-Islam’s operational branch, who was also involved in the killing, was meanwhile killed in a shootout with the police in the Khilgaon area of the capital.
Avijit, a US citizen, was murdered near the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) of the Dhaka University while returning from the Amar Ekushey Book Fair on February 26, 2015.
His wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya was also severely injured in the attack, but she survived. A case over the murder was filed with Shahbagh Police Station, and Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch commenced the investigation. Later, the investigation was transferred to the CTTC unit. – Special Correspondent
