N'ganj Seven Murder Case: 4 convicts file appeals seeking acquittal

Four convicts of the Narayanganj seven murder case yesterday filed separate appeals with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, seeking acquittal from all charges.

Then commanding officer of Rab-11 in Narayanganj Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, company commanders Maj Arif Hossain and Lt Commander Masud Rana of the battalion and expelled Siddhirganj Awami League leader and former Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) councillor Nur Hossain -- filed the appeals with the apex court challenging a High Court verdict that sentenced them to death.

The HC on August 2017 upheld the death penalty of 15 persons, including the four petitioners, for their involvement in conspiracy, abduction and murder.

The court also commuted the capital punishment of 11 others to life imprisonment. It fined them Tk 20,000 each, in default of which they have to spend two more years in prison.

The apex court is yet to fix any date for hearing the appeals.

Earlier on January 2017, a Narayanganj court sentenced 26 persons, to death and also sentenced nine others to different terms in jail in connection with the case.

Narayanganj City Corporation councillor Nazrul Islam along with his three companions and driver were kidnapped by a team of Rab-11 on April 27 in 2014.

Senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and his driver Ibrahim were also picked up by the same team as they witnessed the abductions.

Subsequently, seven bodies 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.