Dhaka, March 18 (IANS): A court in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has framed charges against eight people in connection with the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in 2013, media reported on Wednesday.
The court of Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Ruhul Amin indicted the eight on Wednesday, and set April 21 for the witnesses' deposition, according to a bdnews24.com report.
Haider was murdered on February 15, 2013, and investigations revealed the hand of Islamist fanatics.
Haider, an architect and blogger, was an activist of the Ganajagaran Mancha, a secular movement demanding the maximum penalty for convicted war criminals.
On January 28 last year, police pressed charges against eight people, including seven students of the North South University (NSU), aged between 19-30 years, and Mufti Jashim Uddin Rahmani, a leader of the Ansarullah Bangla extremist group.
One of the accused students, 30-year-old Rezwanul Azad Rana, is the prime suspect in the case. A leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, Rana is currently absconding.
During Wednesday's hearing, the rest of the accused pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to them.