Some killers of Avijit Roy, Faisal Arefin Dipan left country: DMP chief

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia has claimed that there have been ‘significant progresses’ in the investigations into the recent murders of writer, bloggers-online activists and a publisher.

He, however, has said that 'some' of the killers of writer Avijit Roy and one of his publishers Faisal Arefin Dipan have left the country.

Since the February 2015 killing of Bangladeshi American writer Roy, who founded the blog ‘Muktomona’ (free thinkers), by machete-wielding attackers, several murders in similar patterns have occurred in Bangladesh.

On Monday, an LGBT rights activist was hacked to death, along with a friend, inside his Dhaka home.

The twin murder was the latest in the series of machete killings Bangladesh has been witnessing since early last year.

Militant outfit ‘Ansar Al Islam’, which claims to be the Bangladesh affiliate of al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for Monday's killings as well as six other previous killings of bloggers-online activists and the publisher.

Meanwhile, Middle East-based Islamic State (IS) too reportedly took responsibility for some of the killings that took place since 2015, including those of an Italian in Dhaka and a Japanese in Rangpur, according to terrorism monitoring group SITE Intelligence.

The Bangladesh government, however, denies presence of IS operatives in the country.

It says ‘home-grown’ Islamist radicals are behind the killings.

Dhaka metro police chief, however, said on Wednesday that it was about time that these killings needed ‘special attention’.

“These planned killings are now a matter of concern. It needs special efforts,” he said while speaking at a programme in his office.

Since the murder of Roy in February last year, one of his publishers Dipan, blogger-online activists Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, Niladri Chatterjee Niloy and Ananta Bijoy Das have been killed in similar fashion by machete-wielding attackers, targeting the head to ensure immediate death.   

In February 2013, a few days after the Shahbagh movement demanding maximum punishment for 1971 war criminals started, blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed near his home in Dhaka.

“A total of 21 cases have been initiated over the murders of bloggers and a publisher. We have identified the perpetrators in 16 cases,” said DMP Commissioner Mia.

Out of the 21 cases, 11 have been opened with the Dhaka metro police, he added.

“We suspect militants’ involvement behind the killings. Police have submitted chargesheet in five cases. Killers of blogger Rajib have been brought to justice.”

Investigations into the murders of Roy, publisher Dipan, blogger-online activist Niloy and the attack on Roy’s close friend publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, who survived, were still going on, said the Dhaka metro police commissioner.

Mia claimed of achieving ‘significant progresses’ in police's investigation into the murders of Avijit and Dipan. "We have the names and addresses of their killers. Some have been arrested, but we didn’t manage to catch the others. Several of them have already fled the country.”

On Monday’s murder of LGBT activist Xulhaz Mannan and his theatre activist friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, he said that police reached the spot “within seven minutes of the incident.”

“A police officer was hacked (by the attackers while fleeing). We managed to seize a bag belonging to one of the perpetrators.”