A prominent secular writer and blogger, Roy was known as a founder of the popular rationalist blog Mukto-mona. On February 26, 2015, he was murdered by machete-wielding assailants at a book fair in Dhaka. In 2022, two of the five suspects in his murder fled custody and their whereabouts are still unknown. In 2025, on the 10th anniversary of Roy's death, protests were organized demanding a reinvestigation of his murder case.