No lead yet on Avijit Roy murder

Nearly a day after the brutal murder of blogger-writer Avijit Roy, police are yet to establish the identity of those who killed him.

No clear lead is available yet, though the murder happened during a busy hour near the Amar Ekushey Book Fair, Dhaka University’s TSC and Suhrawardy Udyan, where police vans are parked and static security posts are in place.

Though no-one really chased the two young men who hacked Avijit and wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, pedestrians have said the two ran in different directions -- one towards Suhrawardy Udyan, the other towards the Milan Chattar.

The spot of the murderous attack was just a few hundred yards from Shahbagh Police Station.

Around 10pm on Friday, Shahbagh police OC Sirajul Islam told bdnews24.com they were assisting the Detective Branch (DB) who were heading the investigations into the brutal murder.

“As far as I know, there have been no developments. No one has been arrested.”

DB’s Deputy Commissioner Krishnapada Roy also failed to give any additional information regarding the enquiry.

RAB’s Additional Director General Ziaul Ahsan said they were looking into the matter as well.

“We have taken this very seriously. We have to consider many issues before making any arrests inside the campus, they (the killers) committed the murder among so many people," he said.

There is considerable traffic on the web supporting the murder, with Islamist radicals posting laudatory messages and tweeting extensively.

"One would imagine the security agencies can break into the extremist chatter and track those involved with the gruesome murder soon enough," said Shahriar Kabir, executive president of anti-fundamentalist "Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee".

But at the time of filing this report, nearly 18 hours after the murderous attack, police have not arrested or detained anyone for interrogation.

Police or intelligence agencies also do not seem to have a clear lead on which Islamist radical group was possibly involved with the attack.

One intelligence official, on condition of anonymity, said they suspected the involvement of a trans-regional radical group operating across Bangladesh and its neighbourhood.

Photo: Facebook

That would point to a group like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

An Indian intelligence report, quoted in Kolkata's Ananda Bazar Patrika, had said the JMB was planning to launch 'revenge attacks' in both Bangladesh and West Bengal after security operations had dented their networks considerably.

The daily had said Bangladesh intelligence had been alerted.

Doctors involved in the autopsy of Roy's dead body said that 'very sharp weapons were used very efficiently’ to attack Roy.

This resembles the murderous attacks on writer Humayun Azad in 2004 and blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in 2013.

Shahriar Kabir said that it had not yet been possible to bring to justice those involved in the attacks on legendary poet Shamsur Rahman in 1999, Humayun Azad or Rajib Haider.

"The failure of the prosecution has only encouraged more such assaults like the one on Avijit Roy," he said.

Police officials, when contacted, said they were working hard to achieve a breakthrough.

One DMP official said though Avijit Roy had been threatened before, he had never sought police security.

After he came home on Feb 16, he had been to the Ekushey Book Fair every day.

"He would meet friends and go round stalls and have tea. It is obvious the killers closely followed him for a while, found a pattern to his movement and then struck," the DMP official said but did not want to be identified.