Security stringent in court over Abhijit's murder verdict

Security has been beefed up in the court area of ​​Old Dhaka following the verdict in the murder case of writer Abhijit Roy. Judge Mojibur Rahman of the Dhaka Special Anti-Terrorism Tribunal will announce the verdict in the case on Tuesday afternoon, state lawyer Golam Chharwar Khan Zakir said. Following the verdict, surveillance is being carried out in the court premises and surrounding areas as well as by setting up archways. Additional police have been deployed in the entire area.

The accused in the case are: Major Ziaul Haque alias Zia, Mozammel Hussain alias Simon alias Shahriar, Abu Siddique Sohail alias Shakib alias Sajid alias Shahab, Arafat Rahman alias Siam alias Sajjad alias Shams alias Abdul Akram Hossain alias Hasib alias Abdul And extremist blogger Shafiur Rahman Farabi. Among them are Zia and Akram fugitives, the other four have been brought to the court from jail for trial and kept in jail. Investigators say all but Farabi are members of the banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team.

Avijit RoyAvijit Roy, a US expatriate, was killed on the night of February 26, 2015 in a militant attack in front of the TSC of Dhaka University on his way back from the book fair with his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya. His wife lost her finger in the stabbing. Abhijit, the son of physicist Professor Ajay Roy, lived in the United States. He used to write on various subjects of science as well as run a free-spirited blog site. He came to the country to take part in the book fair despite the threat of militants.

After the incident, Professor Ajay Roy (now deceased) filed a murder case with Shahbagh Police Station. The case was handed over to the Counter Terrorism Unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB). Four years after the killings, on March 13, 2019, Monirul Islam, an inspector of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTTC), filed a chargesheet against six people. Thirty-four people were called as witnesses in the case.

Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Tribunal Judge. On August 1 of that year, Mojibur Rahman framed charges and ordered the trial of six accused in the case. The court acquitted the four accused in jail on January 28 after taking the testimony of 26 of the 34 state witnesses named in the chargesheet. On February 3, state prosecutor Golam Charwar Khan Zakir ended his argument over the death sentence of the accused.

Following an argumentative hearing between the two sides, Judge Mojibur Rahman set February 16 for the verdict in the case.