Gulshan Couple Murder
2 to walk gallows
A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced two youths to death in absentia and another to life imprisonment for killing a couple in Gulshan in March 2010.
The condemned convicts are Mohammad Rubel and Mithun Chanda and the lifer is Altaf Hossain Altu.
Altu was present when Judge (in charge) Mohammad Rezaul Islam of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 declared the judgment.
The court acquitted Mohiuddin Azad Rabbi of the charge as allegation brought against him was not proved.
After the judgment, Sumaiya Yasmeen Bithi, daughter of the slain couple, and her sister-in-law Momtaj Begum, who were present at the court, expressed their satisfaction over the verdict.
They urged the government for immediate arrest of the fugitives and execute their death sentences.
The punishment of the fugitives will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender, the judge said.
Earlier, the prosecution and the defence had completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 19 prosecution witnesses.
Sadequr Rahman, 55, general secretary of Bangladesh Nursery Owners’ Association and his wife Romana Nargis, 45, were shot dead in their flat at Kalachandpur in the capital’s Gulshan area on March 24, 2010 as they declined to marry their daughter Nilufar Yesmin Iti off to Rubel.
Following the incidents, police arrested Rubel, Mithun and several others for their alleged involvement with the killings. But the investigation officer pressed charges against Rubel, Mithun, Altu and Rabbi as the charges were primarily proved.
Meantime, Rubel and Mithun were released after getting bails from the High Court (HC) making forged documents and went into hiding.
Later, a writ petition was filed with the HC challenging the bail order and after the hearing the HC found the documents of getting bails of the two accused forged and it cancelled their bails.
The HC also directed police to arrest them, but police failed.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
