Investigators mum about Avijit killing probe update

Nearly a month past the murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy, investigators are yet to tell his father Prof Ajoy Roy about any significant progress in the probe.

So far police have not identified the killers, let alone arrest them.

Prof Ajoy told The Daily Star that he met investigators at the office of the Detective Branch (DB) of police yesterday and handed them a few photographs, thinking those might help.

When asked about the progress, the investigators kept silent, he said.

The professor thinks either the law enforcers were reluctant to disclose anything vital at this stage of investigation or they have not made any progress at all.

The photos which he carried in a flash drive are of two discussions held on Bangla Academy premises on the afternoon and evening of February 26, the day Avijit was killed.

His son attended both events, he added.

Avijit, a Georgia-based software engineer, had travelled to Bangladesh from the United States about two weeks before he was hacked to death on Dhaka University campus. He came to meet his family and see two of his books published in the country's annual book fair.

His wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya was injured in the attack.

Over a dozen cops were on duty on the night Avijit was attacked around 8:45pm, and the area was overseen by around 70 surveillance cameras at that time, police said.

Barely half an hour after the attack, a militant outfit calling itself Ansar Bangla 7 tweeted: "Allahu Akbar [Allah is great]!!! Brothers We can!!! Target down here in # Bangladesh."

Shafiur Rahman Farabi, who had issued repeated death threats to Avijit on Facebook, was arrested by Rapid Action Battalion in Jatrabari on March 2.

Contacted, DB Inspector Fazlur Rahaman, also investigation officer of the killing case, declined to comment.