Extremists responsible for Farooqi's murder, claims family

Family members of slain TV show host Nurul Islam Farooqi claim that extremists were behind the killing and that it was pre planned.

At a media briefing on Wednesday, his son Ahmed Reza Farooqi, however, did not blame any specific group for his father's murder.

"My father was a believer of 'Sunni' ideology. He had received death threats on mobile phone and facebook from those who opposed his ideology. Extremists killed him. It was a planned murder," he said.

Farooqi, a presidium member of Islami Front, was known for opposing the Jamaat-e-Islami and Hifazat-e Islam, was hacked to death at his Dhaka home on Aug 27.

In his written speech, Ahmed (Reza Farooqi) have requested the police to add two more charges, including murder, in the case filed by the family.

The Islami Front leader's youngest son Faisal Farooqi had filed a case with the Shere Bangla Nagar police station the day after his father was killed.

"Our eldest brother Masud Reza Farooqi was in the Netherlands and I was in Saudi Arabia when my father was killed. Police wrote the case details and my younger brother Faisal Farooqi just signed it," he told the briefing at their Razabazar home in Dhaka.

Demanding a proper investigation into his father's murder, Ahmed said:

"We have no problem in waiting. But we do not want the probe to stall midway."

He rejected media reports indicating Farooqi's personal life behind the murders.

"My father was not killed over any family or business feud. Our family members live in harmony."

Farooqi had two wives. His second wife Lubna Islam lived with him at the Razabazar home, while his first wife and her children lived in Malibagh.

He, however, apprehended that the probe might stall halfway.

"A lot of murder probes in Bangladesh get stuck halfway. The same can happen to this also. But we urge the government not to let that happen in this case."