A Dhaka tribunal has indicted six men, including sacked military officer Major Syed Ziaul Haq and ‘militant blogger’ Safiur Rahman Farabi, in the murder of blogger and writer Avijit Roy, reports bdnews24.com.
On Thursday, Anti-Terrorism Tribunal Judge Md Mujibur Rahman set Sept 11 for starting the trial of the case.
The other four suspects, now in jail, are Md Mozzammel Hussain alias Saimon alias Shahriar, Md Abu Siddiq Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab, Md Arafat Rahman and Akram Hossain alias Abir.
Of them, Zia and Farabi are on the run.
The detained suspects pleaded not guilty to the case and demanded a fair trial after the judge read out the chargesheet.
Avijit Roy was murdered near the Dhaka University TSC intersection on Feb 26, 2015 when he was returning from the Ekushey Book Fair with his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya. His wife was severely wounded in the incident.
The son of noted physicist Ajay Roy, Avijit lived in the US. In addition to writing on various scientific issues, he was the founder of the popular blog ‘Muktomona’.
He had come to Bangladesh to take part in the book fair despite threats from militants.
Prof Ajay Roy filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station soon after the murder of his son.
