Prof Taher murder: SC to deliver verdict on Apr 5

The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on April 5 on the appeals in Rajshahi University (RU) teacher Dr S Taher Ahmed murder case.

A full bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique yesterday fixed the date after concluding hearing.

Dr Taher, 59-year-old geology and mining professor, was killed on February 1, 2006. Police recovered his body from a septic tank behind his residence on campus on February 3, 2006.

On February 22 this year, the apex court started hearing the appeals filed by the convicts challenging the High Court verdict.

On April 21, 2013, the HC upheld the death sentence of RU teacher Dr Mia Mohammad Mohiuddin and caretaker at Taher's residence Jahangir Alam, for their involvement in the murder of Prof Taher.

The HC, however, commuted the death sentence of two others to life term imprisonment. They are Jahangir Alam's brother Abdus Salam and brother-in-law Nazmul.

All the four convicts, who are now in jail, filed appeals with the SC seeking acquittal.

Meanwhile, the state has filed a separate appeal with the apex court seeking death penalty for all the convicts.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Deputy Attorney General Bishwajit Debnath represented the state while lawyers Khandker Mahbub Hossain, SM Shahjahan and Imran appeared for the convicts during hearing of the appeals.