Avijit murder charges by Feb 26: Cops

Police say charges in the murder case of writer-blogger Avijit Roy will be pressed before February 26 next year; the third anniversary of Roy’s killing.

Monirul Islam, chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, made the assurance at a press briefing in Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s media centre.

Three of the 11 accused in the murder case have given confessional statements, hence it can be said the mystery behind the murder has been solved, Monirul said.

Avijit Roy was killed in Dhaka University campus on February 26, 2015, and his wife seriously injured in a machete attack believed to be carried out by fundamentalists.

The killing was led by Mukul Rana, a suspect in the Avijit murder who was killed in a “gunfight” with lawmen Khilgaon in June last year, Monirul Islam said.

Charges will also be framed soon over the killings of LGBT rights activist Xulhaz Mannan, publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, and attempted on another publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, he added.

The militants killed Dipan and also tried to kill Tutul for publishing books written by Avijit, he added.