Police have pressed charges against eight people in a case filed over the murders of LGBT activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend, theatre activist Mahbub Tonoy in 2016.
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said the investigation agency of the case, CTTC (Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime) unit, sent the charge sheet to the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval around 12pm on Sunday.
According to the charge sheet, all the eight accused are members of banned militant outfit Ansar Al Islam.
As of now, four of them have been arrested. They are- Mozammel Husain alias Saimon, 25, Md Arafat Rahman, 24, Sheikh Abdullah, 27, and Asadullah, 25.
They have given confessional statements before a court.
The other four who are absconding are- Syed Md Ziaul Huq alias Major Zia (sacked army major), 42, Akram Hossain, 30, Sabbirul Haque Chowdhury, 26, and Md Zunaid Ahmad alias Maulana Zuned alias Zunaid, 26.
During its investigation, CTTC found involvement of 13 people in the crime. However, detailed information about five of the suspects could not be gathered.
On April 25, 2016, Xulhaz, an LGBT activist and a local employee of USAID, and his friend, Mahbub Tonoy, a theatre activist, were hacked to death by armed assailants at the former’s Kalabagan residence in the capital.
The next day, Minhaz Mannan Emon, brother of Xulhas, lodged a murder case with Kalabagan police station.
Initially, the Detective Branch of DMP investigated the double murders. Later, on November 15, 2017, DMP’s CTTC unit took over the investigation.
