[3][4] In 2012, A. K. M. Shafiul Islam led an effort to ban the Burkha at the University of Rajshahi because of which he had faced criticism by Islamists.
[6] A Facebook page of Ansarullah Bangla Team, a banned Islamist terrorist organisation, claimed responsibility of the attack and murder.
The investigators claimed that the suspects resented the Lalon music nights organised twice a week by A. K. M. Shafiul Islam at his residence.
[10][11] Anwar Hossain Ujjal is the Joint General Secretary of Rajshahi District unit of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
[12] The case was based on the confessional statement of Nasrin Akhter Reshma, wife of Abdus Samad Pintu.
[13] On 16 April 2019, Justice Anup Kumar of the Speedy Trial Tribunal in Rajshahi sentenced three to death for the murder of A. K. M. Shafiul Islam.