A Dhaka court yesterday took cognisance of the charges against Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani, chief of militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team, and seven students of North South University in blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider murder case.

Judge Md Jahurul Haque of Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka also fixed October 30 for hearing on charge framing against the accused.

The court issued an arrest warrant against fugitive accused in the case Redwanul Azad Rana of Daganbhuiyan upazila of Feni and ordered to confiscate all his movable properties.

The court also directed the OCs of Daganbhuiyan and Pallabi police stations to submit a report to it within October 30 on the execution of the arrest order. Blogger Rajib, also an activist of the Shahbagh movement, was hacked to death in the capital's Pallabi on February 15 last year.

On January 28, detectives pressed charges against Jasimuddin and the seven NSU students including Rana in connection with the murder.

Among the accused, Jasimuddin and six NSU students -- Md Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep, Maksudul Hasan alias Anik, Md Ehsan Reza alias Rumman, Nayem Sikdar alias Iraj, Nafis Imtiaz and Sadman Yasir Mahmud -- are behind bars.

The investigation officer in the charge sheet said the seven NSU students had vowed to kill the “atheist bloggers” after reading Jasimuddin's books and listening to his sermons.

They targeted Rajib “for his blog posts under the nickname Thabababa” and got divided into two-- “intel group” to collect his details and track him down and the “execution group” to carry out the murder.

The charge sheet mentioned Jasimuddin as the “instigator” while Rana as the “planner”.