In his testimony made before the lower court, witness Akku Chowdhury quoted Humayun to be saying that accused Hasan hired Shaheed, Badal, Shaniram, Minu, Parveen and him to rape and kill Shazneen.

Humayun said Shaheed pulled down badly wounded Shazneen from the bed on to the floor and raped her.

Witness Ahmed Shafi Chowdhury, who went to Shazneen's home on invitation on the day of her murder, said in his testimony that maid Minu and Parveen gave contradictory statements to him.

Sufia, a maid of Shazneen's house, said she saw Minu and Parveen talking to Hasan on April 21, 1998 -- two days before Shazneen's murder.

Moslem Hawlader, another employee of the house, said in his testimony that he saw angry looking Hasan coming out of Shazneen's room on April 1. He also said Hasan and Shaheed often used to go out riding on Hasan's motorbike.

A student of class nine in Scholastica Shazneen was the youngest daughter of Latifur Rahman, chairman of Transcom Group.

The appeal hearing is going on at a HC Death Reference Bench comprising Justice Ali Asgar Khan and Justice Emdadul Haque.

The Second Special Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression, Dhaka on September 2, 2003 had ordered the six convicts to be hanged till their death.

The convicts are Shahidul Islam alias Shahid, a domestic help, Syed Sajjad Mainuddin Hasan alias Azad, the contractor, Badal, the contractor's assistant, Shaniram Mandal, a carpenter, and housemaids Estema Khatun Minu and Parveen.