Rajib murder mastermind among 2 arrested

Staff Correspondent: Blogger Rajib murder mastermind Rezwanul Azad Rana, who got death in the case, has been arrested along with his aide Ashraf, an Ansarullah Bangla Team member.

Counter Terrorism Unit of Police arrested them from Uttara area in the capital on Monday noon.

Md Yousuf Ali, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), confirmed the news.

He said a team of Counter Terrorism Unit arrested them conducting a drive at Uttara in the capital.

We had information that Ashraf, aid of Rezwan, is allegedly involved in militant activities.

Rajib Haidar, a blogger and activist of Shahbagh movement, was hacked to death on February 15, 2013, at Pallabi area of Mirpur in Dhaka.

A Dhaka court on December 31, 2015, handed down death penalty to two people -- Rana, 34, and Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep, 24, -- for killing Rajib Haider. They have also been fined Tk 10,000 each.

The court also awarded different jail terms to six others, including the chief of banned Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, in the case.

Rana, the mastermind behind the killing, and Dweep hacked Rajib to death.

Rajib was an activist of Shahbagh movement and used to write against Jamaat-Shibir and war criminals on different blogs under the pseudo name of Thaba Baba.

risingbd/Dhaka/Feb 20, 2017/Ahmed Nur/A K Azad