Avijit Roy's murder was planned well ahead: Minister

Blogger-writer Avijit Roy's murder was planned well ahead, according to State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.

Speaking at an event organised by the Dhaka Reporters' Unity on Saturday, he said: "There were several people present during the attack on Avijit. This was a planned murder."

He said that another person, apart from fundamentalist blogger Farabi Shafiur Rahman, was arrested over the murder and a list of suspects had been prepared.

Bioengineer Avijit Roy, a US citizen, had been receiving threats from radicals for secular blogging. Two of his books were published at this year's Ekushey Book Fair.

Assailants attacked him and his wife on Feb 26 at Dhaka University (DU) campus, while they were returning from the book fair.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal at Saturday's 'Meet the Press' organised by Dhaka Reporters' Unity

He died soon after being rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospitals.

His wife and fellow blogger Rafida Ahmed Bonya, also a US citizen, was seriously injured and went back to the US for better treatment.

The US proposed to help with the investigations, to which the Bangladesh government gave its nod.

On Friday, an FBI team visited the crime scene near the Teachers and Students Centre (TSC), located at the heart of the university campus.

Journalists at the event asked the minister about the quick response of the FBI.

He replied that every embassy had a unit of its own detectives.

Some of the FBI officials were part of that Dhaka-based team along with those who flew in from the US, he added.

Asked whether the FBI's assistance was due to Bangladesh detectives' failure, Kamal said that it was because Avijit was a US citizen.

"Investigation of our detectives has also unearthed a lot of facts. We will share each other's findings."

The junior home minister, whose office oversees law-enforcing agencies, said that the violence amid the BNP-led coalition's blockade and shutdowns had come down 'a lot'.

"There is no movement without people's involvement. Violence will stop very soon. It has already started (ebbing)."

About the murders of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, the minister said, "It's already late, but we will solve this murder."

In 2012, Maasranga Television News Editor Sarowar and ATN Bangla Senior Reporter Runi were killed at their home in Dhaka's Razabazar.

The minister said that the perpetrators of Islamic Front leader Nurul Islam Farooqi's murder had been identified and the police were trying to nab them

Farooqi, who also hosted Islamic programmes on a TV channel, was hacked to death at his Dhaka home on Aug 27 last year.

Kamal claimed that apart from Sagar-Runi murder case, there were no failures on the part of the police.