A new case was filed yesterday against extremist Islamist Shafiur Rahman Farabi, detained for his alleged involvement in secular blogger Avijit Roy’s murder, under the Information and Communication Technology Act for issuing death threats on Facebook.
The case against Farabi was lodged with Ramna police for giving death threats to bloggers Avijit, Asif Mohiuddin and Parvez Alam, and the daily Bangladesh Protidin Editor Naeem Nizam on Facebook, deputy police commissioner Masudur Rahman said.
Fazlur Rahman, an inspector of DB, filed the case against Farabi, who was arrested by Rapid Action Battalion on March 2.
Meanwhile, police say they did not find any indication of Farabi’s involvement in Avijit murder, but confirm that he had threatened the blogger on Facebook several times and lauded the murder.
Prime suspect in Avijit murder, Redwanul Azad Rana, a leader of fanatic group Ansarullah Bangla Team, remains traceless. Police are conducting drives to arrest Rana, who is also accused of masterminding the murder of blogger-architect Ahmed Rajeeb Haider in 2013. A letter has been sent to the immigration police and the BGB to bar Rana from leaving the country.
Farabi, leader of banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir, is facing another case for threatening an imam with death for administering the funeral rites of Rajeeb. He also served six months in jail in 2013 but was released on bail.
On completion of his remand in Avijit murder case, Ramna police yesterday produced Farabi before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mostafizur Rahman seeking a 10-day remand in the ICT case.
Former Buet teacher Avijit, founder of Mukto-Mona blog, and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya were attacked by some unidentified assailants near TSC on Dhaka University campus on the night of February 26. Avijit died at the hospital after an hour while Bonya sustained critical injuries. She was later flown to the US.
A DB official said during the interrogation, they had not found any significant clue or information from Farabi in connection with the murder.
Meanwhile, the police have decided to install CCTV cameras in TSC area of DU.
Asaduzzaman Miah, the DMP commissioner, said they would bring the TSC, Central Shaheed Minar and Shahbagh intersection under CCTV surveillance to stop recurrence of such crimes.
Addressing a seminar on DU campus yesterday, the Dhaka police chief said they would be done installing cameras within this month.
Asaduzzaman said entry and exit points of the city and diplomatic zones had already been brought under the CCTV coverage. “It will help tackling crime and identifying criminals.”
Detectives have analysed about 17-18 hours of CCTV footage from the Amar Ekushey Book Fair premises to identify criminals who had been following Avijit and Bonya. They have already confirmed that Rana played a key role in launching attack on the couple.
DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam, also the DB chief, said the visiting FBI team was working on Avijit’s murder case. The detectives have already handed over case-related evidence to the FBI for lab test in the USA.
At a discussion on DU campus yesterday, Prime Minister’s Adviser HT Imam branded the policemen who were inactive as Avijit Roy was being hacked, as black sheep. He said they should be put on trial.
A probe committee formed to investigate the inaction of police personnel has found negligence of duty on the part of some officers.
According to sources, five police teams were on duty around the site. Among the teams, Sub-Inspector Waheduzzaman, also in-charge of Nilkhet police outpost, SI Mozibur Rahman and SI Hafizul Islam were in the TSC area, while SI Daud Hossain was near Shahbagh. There was also a patrol team in the area when the group of criminals attacked the couple with sharp weapons.
