Suspected militant in blogger Avijit murder held

Staff Correspondent: Members of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit (CTTC) claimed to have arrested an alleged militant accused in connection with the killing of blogger and writer Avijit Roy.

Saimun, chief of media wing and intelligence wing of the banned militant outfit Ansar Al Islam, was arrested from Baunia Badaldi road area of Uttara in Dhaka on Saturday night, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told risingbd.com on Sunday noon.

His organising name is Shahriar. Ansar al Islam, said to be the Bangladesh chapter of al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Masudur said.

Masudur said, "Saimun has involvement in blogger Avijit murder. The remaining accused in the murder will be arrested after putting him on remand."

Saimun, who used to conduct different Facebook pages, primarily confessed to the law enforcers that he had direct involvement in the killing mission of Avijit, according to the CTTC.

Bangladesh-born US citizen Avijit, son of noted physicist Ajoy Roy and founder of Mukto-Mona blog, was hacked to death, and his wife Rafida Afrin Banya was injured as unidentified killers attacked them with meat cleavers near TSC on the Dhaka University Campus on February 26 in 2015.

He came to Bangladesh with his wife as his two books were published during that year's book fair.

risingbd/Dhaka/Nov 19, 2017/Maksud/AI