The FBI team assisting the probe into the Avijit Roy killing, also suspects that fanatics were behind the murder.
The Detective Branch (DB) of police has prepared a list of 10 people who had threatened to kill Avijit on the internet.
“FBI detectives are collecting evidence. They said it would be difficult to come to a conclusion so early but strongly suspect militant groups,” DB boss Monirul Islam said.
“They have not yet asked us to arrest anyone nor sought information on any suspect.”
The four-member FBI team arrived in Dhaka on March 5.
Monirul said the detectives wanted to trace the Facebook users who had threatened to kill Avijit and instigate others. But police assumed the instigators used fake profiles.
Avijit, a Bangladesh-born US citizen, was killed and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya was seriously injured when unidentified criminals hacked them near the TSC roundabout on Dhaka University campus on February 26. Bonya was flown back to the US for better treatment on March 2.
Former DU Professor Ajay Roy, father of Avijit, suspected that Islamist militants who did not like Avijit’s writings might have killed him. DB officials also emphasised on this issue.
So far, law enforcers have arrested Shafiur Rahman Farabi, who had issued death threats to Avijit. Farabi, who is now on a 10-day remand, confessed this but denied involvement in the murder. RAB said Farabi was involved with banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). ABT leader Redwanul Azad Rana is the prime suspect in Avijit murder. Police are looking for Rana since they suspect he killed blogger Ahmed Rajeeb Haider in 2013 as well.
The DB chief said, apart from Farabi, they had picked up another youth but released him after interrogation. “The FBI does not have the authority to launch drives. They can also examine any evidence in their labs.”
Bangladesh police would also provide support if the FBI wants to file a case in the US. “The FBI team will stay in Bangladesh a few more days, if the need arises,” he said in reply to a question.
Yesterday afternoon, the FBI team visited the CID office in Dhaka. They stayed there for around an hour and then went to the DB headquarters. Sources said the FBI team discussed the evidence collected by the CID’s forensic team from the murder scene.
CID chief Saifur Rahman later told reporters the FBI team had asked them about the forensic test facilities and spoke to the forensic officials.
Meanwhile, a three-member DB team from Dhaka conducted a one-hour drive from 11:30am at Farabi’s Sylhet residence yesterday with the help of local Kotwali police.
SI Foyez Ahmed of the police station told our correspondent that Farabi’s mother and sister lived at the rented house at Munshipara in Sylhet city. They were not home during the drive.
Md Rahmat Ullah, additional deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police, said the detectives had seized a laptop, a CPU and some papers from the flat, rented around a year ago.
Locals said Farabi did not have any companion when he used to offer prayers at the local mosque. “Some devotees rebuked him several times for using the internet through his mobile phone inside the mosque,” a neighbour said, seeking anonymity.
