UNB, Feni :
A court here on Tuesday sentenced 39 people to death in the sensational Fulgazi upazila parishad chairman Ekramul Haque killing case.
District and Session’s Court Judge Aminul Haque handed down the verdict, acquitting 16 other accused, including BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar, as the allegation brought against them could not be proved. Of the convicts, 22 are behind the bars while the rest have been on the run.
Out of total 56 accused, 36 had been in jail while 19 absconding another accused was killed in a reported gunfight till the delivery of the verdict. Of those had been in jail, 22 were convicted while 14 got acquittal and 17 of those had been on the run were convicted while two acquitted. Md Shohel alias Ruti Shohel, one of the key accused in the murder case, was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in Birinchi area of Feni municipality on July 3 last year.
Earlier on February 13, the court set March 13 for delivering the judgment in the case and cancelled the bail of 22 accused and sent 36 accused to jail. Ekram, also the president of Fulgazi upazila unit of Awami League, came under attack by armed miscreants in front of Bilasi Cinema Hall on May 20, 2014 while on his way to Fulgaziupazila headquarters from his Masterpara residence in Feni district town.
The attackers intercepted his microbus and fired at him from a very close range and then set fire to the vehicle. They left the scene after confirming Ekram’s death on the spot. Ekram’s brother RezaulHaqueJasim filed a case against Minar and others with Feni Model Police Station on May 21, 2014. Plainclothes police arrested Minar from the capital on May 27, 2014.
