The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence handed down on two persons by a lower court in the case of killing of college-going student Ashikur Rahman Khan Apu and maiming his two brothers at Sutrapur in Dhaka in 2008.
Apu, 21, son of senior Dhaka court lawyer Rais Uddin, was shot to death after being abducted as part of conspiracy to grab Rais鈥� eight-storey building at Wari in the capital and demanding Tk 12 lakh for ransom, according to the prosecution鈥檚 lawyer, Sarwar Hossain Bappi.
The death-row convicts Monjurul Abedin Russell and Nawshad Hossain Molla Robin are now in jail.
The Appellate Division in the same verdict also jailed Mohammad Ali Munna for life and sentenced Iftekhar Jhalak to jail until his death.
Sarwar Hossain, also a deputy attorney general, argued in the Appellate Division that Jhalak was the mastermind behind the killing while Munna was one of the hired killers.
The court asked fugitive convict Munna to surrender to the lower court in 30 days.
The High Court earlier acquitted Munna and Jhalak of the murder charge as the prosecution failed to prove their involvement.
They were among the four people, who were jailed for life term by the lower court for the murder charges.
The apex court, upheld the life term sentences of the two remaining accused鈥擬ahbub Alam and Biplob Chandra Das 鈥搘ho remained fugitive since beginning of the murder trial.
A three-judge bench headed by chief Justice Obaidul Hassan pronounced the verdict after hearing separate appeals 鈥搊ne filed by the death-row convicts and the other was filed by the government challenging acquittal of Munna and Jhalak.
According to the prosecution, the convicts picked up Apu鈥檚 brother Arifur Rahman Khan Setu, a businessman, to the playground of Silverdale School at Wari, from a house, on May 23, 2008.
On information, two brothers Atiqur Rahman Khan Bappi, a lawyer, and Apu, went there and the accused shot them indiscriminately.
The accused later left the spot guessing that the three brothers were killed.
Locals took the three brothers to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctor on duty declared Apu dead.
The other two brothers survived but were paralysed.聽
Deceased Apu鈥檚 sister Atia Khan Keya, a former newscaster of Bangladesh Television, filed a murder case with the Sutrapur police station accusing seven people.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police鈥檚 Detective Branch inspector Maksudur Rahman submitted a charge sheet against the seven accused on August 31, 2008.
According to the charge sheet, the accused committed the murder demanding Tk 12 lakh extortion and abduction of Sentu.聽
The court framed charges against the accused on April 12, 2009.
On March 13, 2012, Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 judge Shahed Nuruddin sentenced Russell and Robin to death and four others to life terms in the murder case.
One of the seven accused, Atiq Ahmed Shiplu, was acquitted by the lower court.聽
On May 7, 2018, the High Court upheld the death penalty for two accused and acquitted two life-term recipients, who were in jail.
The Appellate Division upheld the death sentence of the two convicts, restored the life-term of the two and upheld the life term of the remaining two convicts.
Senior lawyers Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury and Sarwar Ahmed appeared for the convicts.
