Acquittal of 14 convicts stayed
The Supreme Court's chamber judge yesterday stayed for six weeks a High Court verdict that acquitted 14 convicted accused, including eight condemned to death, in the killing of business tycoon Mohammad Alam.
The HC on Monday in a verdict acquitted 14 convicted accused in the case and commuted death penalty of three others to life imprisonment.
Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, the chamber judge of Appellate Division of SC, passed the order following a petition moved by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on behalf of the government seeking stay on the HC verdict.
Alam and his three female domestic help were killed at his New Jurain residence in the city's Shyampur area on the night of January 2, 2002.
Of the 17 accused in the case, 11 were handed down death sentences while others were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment by a lower court in July 2005.
Of the 11 condemned to death, 10 are now in jail and cannot be released until disposal of the case at the Appellate Division, said Munusrul Hoque Chowdhury, the counsel for Alam's first wife Rezia Begum and daughter Asma Akhtar Dolly.
He told The Daily Star that all proceedings of the case will remain stayed until further order of the Appellate Division.
The Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka, on July 31, 2005 awarded capital punishment to Motin, Babu Jamai, Kabir, Shohag, Sohel, Yusuf Miah, Jahanara, Dulal, Farida and Babu.
The other condemned accused Al Amin is on the run after the incident of Alam's murder.
The other five accused who were awarded jail sentences of different terms in the case have already got released from jail, he added.
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