National

ABT man held over blogger Avijit murder

Police on Sunday night arrested an operative of the banned militant organization Ansar Al Islam (Ansarullah Bangla Team) for his suspected link to the killing of blogger Avijit Roy from the city's Mohammadpur area.

"We arrested an intelligence unit member of Ansar Al Islam named Md Abu Siddique Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab (34) from Iqbal Road area of Mohammadpur around 8pm on Sunday," an official of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit told BSS today.

A city squad of the CTTC arrested the militant after reviewing video footages of the CCTVs (closed circuit camera televisions) of surrounding areas of the killing spot, he informed.

The arrestee, who confessed his involvement in the killing of Avijit Roy, has been sent to the court seeking remand, he also said.

During preliminary interrogation, he confessed that he had long been involved in the activities of the ABT as its operative, saying, "He along with some others had killed blogger Avijit Roy at directives of big brothers of ABT."

Earlier on February 26 in 2015, ABT men killed Avijit Roy and critically injured his wife Rafida Ahmed Bannya near TSC square during the Ekushey book fair. Both of them were Bangladeshi born United States (US) citizens.

A murder case was filed to this end.

Source: BSS