The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit has submitted a charge sheet against nine persons, including Ansar al-Islam military wing chief sacked Army major Syed Ziaul Haque alias Zia for killing blogger Nazimuddin Samad.
The charge sheet was submitted to a Dhaka court on Thursday, CTTC Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Saiful Islam confirmed.
Of the nine accused, four were arrested while five are still absconding, he said.
“We will continue our efforts to arrest the fugitives,” the deputy commissioner added.
Among the accused, Rashidun Nabi Bhuiyan, Mojammel Hossain Saymon, Arafat Rahman and Md Sheikh Abdullah were arrested. They also gave confessional statements before the court.
Meanwhile, sacked army major Syed Ziaul Haque, Md Waliullah alias Oli, Sabbirul Haque Chowdhury alias Konik, Mawlana Junayed Ahmed alias Junayed and Akram Hossain are still on the run.
The CTTC sources said they had identified some other names involved in the murder, but could not locate their actual names and addresses. Their names will also be included in the charge sheet if the investigation team can identify them.
All of the accused were involved in different aspects of the murder from planning to assassination, according to CTTC.
Nazimuddin, a Jagannath University master’s student, was hacked to death at Ekrampur intersection in Old Dhaka’s Sutrapur area on April 6, 2016.
He had come to Dhaka in January and got himself admitted to the university in February and started living in Gandaria.
Earlier in October 2016, Rashidun Nabi had expressed his regret over the killing of blogger Nazimuddin when he was produced before the court after his arrest.
At one point, when the judge asked him about the murder, Nabi told the court: “I admit that we killed him [Nazim]. Please forgive us. We regret it and apologise to the nation. Please pardon me. We were misguided...”
At the time, at a press briefing, DMP Additional Commissioner and CTTC Chief Monirul Islam said that militants linked to Ansarullah (now Ansar Al Islam) had planned to kill Nazimuddin three months prior to the assassination.
“A few days before the attack, the militants had rented a house near Jagannath University. They followed Nazimuddin’s movements and finally attacked him on April 6,” Monirul Islam said.
“Since Nazimuddin used to live in a mess-house at Sutrapur of Old Dhaka, the militants thought that it would not be possible to kill him there. So, five militants led by Nabi attacked and killed him on the street,” he added.
Monirul claimed that Nabi had also confessed to his involvement in the killing of LGBT rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy and the attempted murder of publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul.
Among the arrested, Mojammel Hossain Saymon and Arafat Rahman are also accused in the murder of Abhijit Roy.