With almost a month gone and no significant headway into solving the murder of writer Avijit Roy, the police has now sought help from anyone who might have captured any picture or videos during the attack at the TSC roundabout.
“A number of people had witnessed the murder but none of them could clearly say how many men carried out the attack or what the assailants looked like,” said DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam yesterday.
Even though many people often captured scenes of violence using phones or cameras, the police were yet to trace any such recording of the attack on Avijit, said Monirul, who is also the chief of the Detective Branch of police.
Any visual lead would be very helpful for investigation, he said, adding that the identity of any person willing to hand in such visual proof would be kept anonymous.
Avijit, founder of the secular Muktomona blog, was hacked to death by unidentified assailants on February 26 near the TSC roundabout. The attack also critically injured Avijit’s wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, who is currently receiving medical care in the US.
Asked about the blogger’s family’s claims that a Buet teacher might have been involved in the killing, Monirul said their investigation had led them to believe that Avijit was killed in retaliation to his secular writing, not for any personal enmity.
However, he acknowledged that the police were aware of the family’s allegations against Buet teacher Farshim Mannan Mohammadi – the editor of a Jamaat-leaning magazine, adding that Farshim would be brought in for questioning if needed.
Meanwhile, most members of the FBI team that arrived in Dhaka to assist in solving the mystery behind the killing – left on Thursday and Friday, leaving behind only a technical analyst who will continue to offer his support to the DB probe team. The DB chief claimed that the FBI officials had expressed their satisfaction in the investigation.
