Police said they have solved the mystery behind the killings of four bloggers in the last one year with the completion of investigation into one case and significant progress has been made in three other cases.
"Five bloggers were killed this year and we have successfully unearthed mystery of the killings of four bloggers Washiqur Rahman Babu, Avijit Roy, Ananta Bijoy and Niladri," joint commissioner and spokesperson of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Monirul Islam told BSS adding: "Probe into the killing of blogger and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipon is going on."
"Charge sheet in blogger Md Oyasiqur Rahman Babu killing case had already been submitted to the court accusing five persons while investigation into Avijit and Ananta are now at the final stage," he also said.
"We will submit charge sheet in Bangladeshi-born US citizen Avijit Roy murder case after getting report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as it has assisted Bangladesh police in probing the murder," he added.
"Investigation into the murder of Ananta Bijoy who was brutally hacked to death in Sylhet is also at the final stage," he informed and said: "We have arrested six criminals in killing of blogger Niladri, eight in Avijit murder and five in Ananta murder case while three in Babu murder case."
"The banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) is behind the killings of the bloggers," he said, adding that Shibir personnel is also involved in killing of blogger Niladri.
Bloggers Avijit Roy, Md Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, Niloy were hacked to death in the capital city, Dhaka, on February 26, March 30 and August 7, respectively, and Ananta Bijoy Das was killed May 12 in Sylhet.
The Bangladesh government in May last banned the radical Islamist organisation ABT for its suspected involvement in killings of the three bloggers Avijit, Ananta and Babu. The militant outfit ABT has started its operation by unleashing attacks on blogger Asif Mohiuddin at Uttara on January 14 in 2013 and they later hacked to death blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in Mirpur on February 15, 2013.
Verdict in blogger Rajib murder was delivered on Thursday by a Dhaka court giving death sentences to two ABT men while charge sheet in blogger Asif Mohiuddin murder case have already been submitted.
Ansarullah Bangla Team chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani and seven others were charge sheeted in blogger Rajib murder case.
Of the seven of the accused, including Rahmani, Nafis Imtiaz, Nayeem Sikder Irad, Ehsan Reza Rumman, Faisal Bin Nayeem alias Deep, Maksudul Hassan Anik, and Sadman Yasir Mahmud, are now in jail. The eighth accused - Redwanul Azad Rana - is absconding.
Forty ABT operatives including its chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani, have so far been arrested since attack on the bloggers started in 2013.
The detectives suspected that the ABT men might have involved in killings of blogger Ashraful Islam, and a student of BUET Raihanul Haque Dwip.
