People pay last respects to slain writer in Dhaka

Dhaka, March 1
People on Sunday paid their last respects to US-based Bangladeshi writer-blogger Avijit Roy who was assassinated earlier in the week in Dhaka.

The coffin containing his remains was taken from the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) mortuary around 10.45 a.m. on Sunday and placed on a platform erected at the base of Dhaka University's Aparajeyo Bangla, bdnews24.com reported.

The slain writer's friends, relatives, well-wishers, teachers and students of the university and members of several organisations gathered at the venue with flowers.

After paying their tributes to the founder of the Mukto-mona blog, a friend of his father, writer-journalist Shahriar Kabir, expressed indignation over the government's "failure to ensure the safety of the Bangladesh-born US-based bio-engineer".

Roy, along with his wife Rafida Ahmed Banna, was attacked at Dhaka University's TSC intersection around 9.30 p.m. on Thursday while they were returning from the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.