Eight implicated in Rajib murder

Police have pressed charges against the chief of the radical ‘Ansarullah Bangla Team’, Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani and seven students of the North South University (NSU) for murdering Ganajagaran Mancha activist Ahmed Rajib Haider.

Detective Branch Inspector Nibaran Chandra Barman submitted the chargesheet at the court of Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Tuesday afternoon, nearly a year after Haider was killed.

The seven NSU students are Faisal Bin Nayeem alias Deep, 22, Maksudul Hassan Anik, 26, Ehsan Reza Rumman, 23, Nayeem Sikder Irad, 19, Nafis Imtiaz, 22, Sadman Yasir Mahmud, 20, and Rezwanul Azad Rana.

Rana, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, is on the run.

The chargesheet submitted on Tuesday also pleaded for issuing an arrest warrant against him.

They conspired with each other and killed Ganajagaran Mancha activist on Feb 15 last year, the chargesheet said.

Rajib Haider, a blogger and an architect by profession, was hacked to death that day near his house in Dhaka’s Mirpur as the Ganajagaran Mancha's movement was peaking.

Relatives and friends had blamed Jamaat for the murder, saying he was killed for the blogs he wrote to bring 'war criminals' to justice.

Faisal, Anik, Rumman, Irad and Nafis, arrested by police on Mar 8 last year, have confessed in court about their role in the murder two days after they were nabbed.

They had said they murdered the blogger-architect on instigation of Shibir leader Rana.

Police claimed extremist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team’s chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani masterminded the assasination .

His name came up during the investigation and he was arrested on Aug 12 from Barguna.

Sadman Yasir Mahmud was arrested on Aug 14 from the capital’s Dhanmondi. He was in front of Rajib Haider’s house when the murder took place on Feb 15, police claimed.

North South University authorities expelled these students for their involvement in the murder.

Meanwhile, after arresting Jasim Uddin Rahmani, a police raid in his residence and office in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur led to the recovery of a computer, a laptop, books and over 50 CDs.

Police also had discovered a hit-list containing the names and photos of 12 people, including blogger Rajib Haider.