‘Ansarullah chief bashed bloggers through sermons’

The chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team has provided a confessional testimony in the murder case of blogger and Shahbagh activist Ahmed Rajib Haider.

Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani confessed to being involved in the murder before a Metropolitan Magistrate on Monday.

He testified from noon to evening in Asaduzzaman Nur’s chamber under Section 164 of the CrPC.

File Photo

The General Recording Officer for court police, SI Moksed Ali, told bdnews24.com, ‘He did not say anything about being directly involved with Rajib’s murder but said he used to talk about bloggers and atheists in the various religious sermons at Mohammadpur’s Bosila Darul Ulum Madrasa.’

He said these sermons were attended by students of private and public universities.

All those who were arrested and later confessed to taking part in the murder are students of a private university.

Police on Aug 21 arrested Mufti Jashim from a secret meeting at Barguna’s Khejurtala. His house in Mohammadpur was raided the next day where computers, laptop, numerous books and CDs were found.

Dhaka Metroplotan Police said they found a hit-list containing 12 names from Jashim’s office, which mentioned Rajib and another blogger Asif Mohiuddin who recently survived an attack.

Rajib Haider, an architect by profession, was hacked to death on Feb 15. He was active in uncovering the faces of religious extremists in his blogs.

Five students of North South University confessed to killing him in court in March. Their confessions mentioned Mufti Jasim as an instigator for the blogger’s murder.

The Ansarullah chief was shown arrested in Rajib’s murder and the case for attempting to murder Asif Mohiuddin soon after he was arrested.