Avijit Murder: Suspect gives confessional statement

Avijit Roy. File photo

A suspect in blogger Avijit Roy murder case yesterday confessed before a Dhaka court that he was among four Ansar Al Islam operatives who did a recce of the killing spot near TSC of Dhaka University five to six days before the murder.

Mozammel Hossain alias Saimon, in his confessional statement, said four more operatives of the banned militant outfit took part in the killing mission, a source in the court said.

The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Ahsan Habib recorded the version of his statement after he agreed to confess to his crime, said court sources.

Mozammel was arrested from Baunia embankment area of Turag in the capital on Saturday afternoon, said Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

His organisational name is Shahriar, said the DMP official.

According to law enforcers, Mozammel also took part in the double murder of LGBT rights activists Xulhaz-Tonoy and the murders of blogger Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipon.

Tipped off, a team of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the DMP launched a drive in the area and arrested him around 4:35pm, Masudur added.

According to the CTTC, Mozammel used to manage the Facebook pages Balakat media, Al Hikma media and Onusondhitsu media on behalf of his outfit.

According to DMP sources, he was involved in the militant outfit as its intelligence and media wing chief.

Ansar al Islam is said to be the Bangladesh chapter of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

Earlier, another Ansar Al Islam operative Abu Siddique Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid confessed before a court that eight of its operatives took part in the murder in 2015 following the instruction of sacked and absconding army Major Syed Ziaul Haque, alleged military wing chief of the banned militant outfit.

Sohel, 34, was arrested on the night of November 5 from the capital's Mohammadpur area.

Major Zia also coordinated the attack on Avijit, said Sakib, from Lalmonirhat, also a member of the outfit's IT and intelligence wing, according to counterterrorism officials.

Law enforcers said Mozammel, during primary interrogation, admitted that he also took part in the killing mission as per the instruction of Major Zia. All these killings took place in 2015. 

Avijit, a Bangladesh-born US citizen, was hacked to death on Dhaka University campus when he, along with his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, were returning from a book fair on February 26 in 2015. Bonya was critically injured in the attack.

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