Investigation officer (IO) of the case also officer-in-charge (OC) of the Khulna Kotwali police station, Abdul Hamid, told The Daily Star that he has no new evidence to base his further investigation on.

Manik Saha, former Khulna correspondent of The New Age also a stringer for the BBC was killed by a bomb thrown at him at noon on January 15, 2004 at Choto Mirzapur near the Khulna Press Club.

Sub-inspector (SI) Ranjit Kumar Das filed two cases with the Kotwali police station on January 17 accusing nobody specific.

SI Asaduzzaman Farazi of the police station submitted a charge sheet under the Explosive Substances Act on March 19, 2004 accusing 13 suspected extremists.

Inspector Mosharaf Hossain, the erstwhile OC of the police station, submitted another charge sheet on June 20, 2004 under section 302 of the Bangladesh Penal Code accusing 12 suspected extremists.

Among the accused, Sumon alias Nuruzzaman, Akbar Ali Shikder alias Shaon, Akram alias Bomaru Akram and Bulbul alias Bulu are in Khulna District Jail.

Three out of the accused 13 died in 'crossfire' incidents in the years 2004 and 2005 while six of the accused are in hiding.

Both the charge sheets were submitted without proper investigation.

Journalists of Khulna rejected the charge sheets alleging that the masterminds and sponsors of the murder were not accused in the charge sheets.

Trial of the murder case began on January 4, 2005 in the Khulna Speedy Trial Tribunal. But Judge Abdus Samad issued an order on April 13 for further investigation of the case.

The tribunal had recorded statements of 24 out of 54 prosecution witnesses before the case dockets were sent back to the Kotwali police station for further investigation.

OC Abdul Hamid could not say when the investigation will be completed. "We have no new evidence for further investigation. Of course, we are trying to 'discover' one," he said.