Farabi arrested over Avijit killing

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Monday arrested one Farabi Shafiur Rahman in the city’s Jatrabari area for his alleged involvement in the killing of writer and blogger Avijit Roy.

Farabi is one of the major suspects in the case as he had threatened to kill Avijit on Facebook.

Following his arrest, the elite force held a press conference at the RAB headquarters.

When asked if Farabi has confessed to his involvement in the killing, Mufti Mahmud Khan, director (legal and media wing) of RAB, said, "No criminal confesses his crime initially."

"We have learnt something after primary interrogation," said Khan, but he did not reveal any more information for some 'strategic reasons'.     

RAB officials say Farabi instigated to kill Roy a number of times on Facebook.

RAB officials said Farabi, a dropout of the physics department of Chittagong University, claimed he is a blogger himself, but he was not in touch with the slain blogger for about two years. 

Unknown assailants hacked Avijit to death in front of TSC of Dhaka University on Thursday. His wife Rafida Ahmed was severely injured in the incident. She is currently undergoing treatment at the city’s Square Hospital.  

Police said Farabi was arrested once for posing death threats to the blogger, only to be released on bail later.

Farabi once said on Facebook, "Avijit Roy can’t be killed as he lives in America. He will be killed once he returns home." 

Sources at the Detective Branch (DB) said they are suspecting a militant group killed the blogger. Ansarullah Bangla Team tops their list of suspects.                                                

However, a DB official told the Prothom Alo there are a number of suspects, other than the militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, in their list. They are not sure if somebody wants to shroud the real incident by claiming the responsibility in the name of Ansarullah Bangla Team.