Two Rajib murder convicts put on 5-day remand

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mazharul Islam granted the remand on Tuesday after Monirul Islam, an inspector of the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), was produced before the court around 3pm. According to the remand plea, Rana was holding a meeting in the Uttara area when he and Ashraf were arrested. Various books on extremism were recovered from their custody, giving police cause to question them for details. Meanwhile, Rana’s lawyer Hafez Ahmed opposed the remand and pleaded for bail. However, after hearing both sides, the judge rejected the bail prayer, while five-day remand was granted for the two accused. On December 31, 2015, a special tribunal handed the death penalty to Md Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep and former Shibir leader Rana for masterminding the murder of blogger Rajib. They were also fined Tk10,000 each. In addition, the tribunal sentenced six others to varying terms of imprisonment for the murder of Rajib on February 15, 2013, including a five-year sentence for Ansarullah Chief Mufti Jashim Uddin Rahmani. On March 15, 2015, the DMP announced a bounty of Tk5 lakh for top Ansarullah leader Rana following the murder of Mukto-Mona blog founder Avijit Roy on February 26 the same year. Rana, who had instructed to attack blogger Asif Mohiuddin, also made the plan to attack two teachers of Monipur High School, police said.