The prime accused is Asadullah alias Fakhrul alias Faisal Zakir alias Sadik, an important member of military wing of banned militant outfit ‘Ansar Al Islam’. He was arrested from Tongi in Gazipur district on Tuesday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mamunur Rashid passed the order when investigation officer of the case Monirul Islam, inspector of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC), unit sought a 10-day remand to interrogate the accused.

Tipped off, a team of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) conducted a drive in the area and arrested Asadullah, said DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman.

Briefing reporters at DMP Media center on Wednesday, Additional Commissioner of the DMP and also the chief of the CTTC Monirul Islam said during investigation, it was revealed that 13 people were involved in the killings. Arrested Asadullah is one of them. He took part in the killing mission directly, the CTTC chief added.

He said that Asadullah was also directly involved in snatching firearms from police in the city’s North Badda in 2016.

“So far, four suspected killers have been arrested in this connection. Of them, two killer group members are—Asadullah and Arafat while other two members are from intelligence group.

Xulhaz Mannan, editor of LGBT magazine Roopbaan, and his friend MahbubTanoy, an activist of theatre group Loknatya Dal, were hacked to death by some unidentified miscreants at an apartment in the capital’s Kalabagan area on 25 April, 2016.