Court Correspondent :
The High Court Division of the Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on the appeals and death references in the case filed over the seven-murder of Narayanganj today (Sunday).
The High Court bench of Justice Bhabani Prasad Singha and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam fixed the date after conclusion of the hearing in the case on July 26. The matter has already been kept as the first item in Sunday’s cause list of the High Court bench.
Earlier, on May 22, the court started hearing on the matter with reading out of the paper book in the case. During the hearing, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam pleaded to uphold lower court judgment against the convicts. “It was a pre-planned and monstrous crime. Justice was ensured and people got their trust back in law enforcement agencies by that judgment,” he said.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on May 17 assigned the High Court bench to hear the case after the 6000-page paper book reached the apex court on May 7 after it was printed in the BG Press.
Narayanganj District and Sessions Judge’s Court on January 16 sentenced 26 persons, including prime accused Nur Hossain, sacked RAB officials Lt Colonel Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, Major Arif Hossain and Lt Commander SM Masud Rana, to death in the seven-murder case. The court also sentenced nine other accused to different terms of imprisonment.
All the documents of the case were sent to the High Court on January 22. The High Court on February 8 received the appeals from the convicts. Twenty convicts including Nur Hossain, Tareque Sayeed, Arif Hossain, SM Masud Rana, Emdadul Haque, Belal Hossain, Abu Taiyab, Shihab Uddin and Mortaza Zaman Charchil filed regular and jail appeals against their sentences.
Later, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha ordered the department concerned of the High Court Division to prepare the paper book of the case on a priority basis.
Narayanganj City Corporation councilor Nazrul Islam along with his three companions and driver were abducted by a team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-11 on April 27, 2014.
Besides, senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and his driver Ibrahim were also allegedly picked up by the same team. They witnessed the abduction of Nazrul and his associates. Subsequently bodies of seven of them were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river.
Two cases were filed in this connection-one by Nazrul’s family and the other by Chandan’s family. Later, three RAB officials Lt Colonel Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, Major Arif Hossain and Lt Commander SM Masud Rana were sacked from the service on charge of their involvement in the abduction and killings.
