The body of slain writer-blogger Avijit Roy will be donated to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for medical research.
Avijit’s younger brother Arijit Roy and his wife Keya Barman told journalists that family members have taken the decision to donate the body in order to show respect to Avijit’s wish.
They said Avijit’s body would be kept at Aparajeyo Bangla in front of the Arts Faculty at Dhaka University on Sunday, to pay final tribute.
Later, the body will be handed over to the DMCH authorities, said Avijit's cousin.
Unidentified miscreants hacked blogger and writer Avijit Roy to death and seriously injured his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonna at the TSC roundabout on Dhaka University campus on Thursday night.
Witnesses said the couple was returning from the Amar Ekushey Book Fair around 9pm. When they reached the Bot-tola area at the TSC roundabout, a CNG-run autorickshaw stopped near them, three young men got down, and started hacking them mercilessly with machetes.
Witnesses also said the attack took place right in front of a police barricade that was put up to restrict vehicular movement on the adjacent road for the ongoing book fair.
When contacted, Shibli Noman, assistant commissioner of Police’s Ramna Division, told the Dhaka Tribune that the attackers might belong to some radical Islamist militant groups who did not like Avijit’s writings.
Avijit Roy, an engineer by profession, was the administrator of the blogging site named Muktomona. He and his wife Bonna were both US residents. They came to Bangladesh on February 15 because two of his books got published in this year’s book fair.
The two books, “Biswaser Virus” (Virus in Faith) and “Sunyo Theke Mahabiswa” (The Universe from Zero) were published by Shudhishor Publication.
Avijit has written a total of nine books so far. After coming to Dhaka, he had been living in a house in Dhanmondi with his wife.
He was also an active supporter of the Gonojagoron Moncho, a youth-based platform initiated by online activists who demanded capital punishment for all war criminals.
The Dhaka Tribune has learned that Avijit featured at the top of a hit list that was prepared by a person named Farabi Shafiur Rahman with whom the blogger had often had confrontations in virtual space regarding religious issues.
