A Sylhet court has asked the authorities concerned to conduct a fresh investigation into the murder of blogger Ananta Bijoy Das and submit a supplementary charge sheet before it.
Judge of Sylhet's Third Metropolitan Magistrate Court Haridash Kumar passed the order on Tuesday, reports UNB.
Assistant public prosecutor Khokon Kumar Datta said that the court had rejected the charge sheet submitted by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) due to errors in the charge sheet. "The investigation agency has recommended exempting 11 names from the charge sheet."
On August 28, CID Inspector Arman Ali submitted a charge sheet against five people in the murder case.
The accused are Abul Hossain, 25, Faisal Ahmed, 27, Mannan Rahi alias Ibne Moyeen, 24, Abul Khayer Rashid Ahmed, and Harunur Rashid, 25. Of them, Mannan and Abul Khayer are now in jail while the others absconding.
The CID also recommended exempting 11 more people, including radical blogger Shafiur Rahman Farabi, from the charge sheet as no evidence of their involvement in the killing was found. Farabi was arrested last year for instigating the murder of Mukto-Mona blog founder and science writer Avijit Roy.
On May 12, 2015, blogger Ananta, also an activist of Sylhet Gonojagoron Moncho, was hacked to death by a group of assailants in broad daylight at Subidbazar Bankalapara in Sylhet city.
Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar Al Islam (previously Ansarullah Bangla Team) took credit for the murder.
Ananta was the editor of science-based Magazine Jukti. He also received Mukto-Mona Rationalist Award in 2006. He wrote several books including Parthib, 2001 (co-authored with Saikat Chowdhury), Darwin: Ekhush Shatake Prasongikota Ebong Bhabna, Soviet Union-E Bigyan O Biplob: Lisenko Odday etc. Evolution was one of the central themes of many of his articles. He was vocal against war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami and critical of religion-based politics.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
