Prof Taher Murder: Two convicts executed 17 yrs after killing

Two convicts in the Rajshahi University teacher Prof S Taher Ahmed murder case were hanged at Rajshahi Central Jail last night.

The executions of Mia Mohammad Mohiuddin and Jahangir Alam were conducted at 10.01pm, Jailer Nizam Uddin told this newspaper.

Mohiuddin was a former colleague of Prof Taher at the Department of Geology and Mining while his accomplice Jahangir was an RU employee.

Mohiuddin was the brother-in-law of late BNP minister Aminul Haque. He belonged to the pro BNP-Jamaat teachers' platform at the university.

The executions were carried out more than a decade after Rajshahi's speedy trial tribunal handed down death sentences to four accused in 2008.

A six-member Appellate Division bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, delivered the last verdict in the case on September 15 last year.

"In view of the evidence as discussed earlier we have no hesitation to hold that Dr Mohiuddin, a highly educated man and associate professor of Rajshahi University, only for the purpose of getting promoted to professor annihilated Dr Taher from this world presuming that if Professor Taher lived, the chance of his getting promotion would be zero," said the verdict.

THE MURDER

Prof Taher went missing from his home on the campus on February 1, 2006, when he was aged 59.

Two days later, police recovered his body from the septic tank of his home.

Taher's son Sanjid Alvi Ahmed filed a murder case with Motihar Police Station on the same day accusing unidentified people.

THE INVESTIGATION

On March 18, 2007, the police submitted a chargesheet accusing six persons.

Other than Mohiuddin and Jahangir, another key accused in the charges was Mahbubul Alam Salehi, the then-president of RU unit Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Three others were Jahangir's father Azimuddin Munshi, brother Abdus Salam, and brother-in-law Nazmul Islam.

Soon after Taher went missing, the police arrested the trio -- Jahangir, Salam and Nazmul, who made judicial statements and confessed that they murdered Taher and dumped his body in the septic tank on February 1.

The trio's confession also revealed the names of Mohiuddin and Salehi.

THE PLOT

The slain professor detected plagiarism and piracy in 10 out of 11 of Mohiuddin's research papers, which the latter submitted for his promotion, according to the charges.

Salehi also had a grudge against Taher over his examinations. Mohiuddin and Salehi hired the killers by promising them money and jobs.

After Jahangir killed Prof Taher by stabbing, Mohiuddin and Salehi confirmed his death by suffocating him.

While Jahangir, Salam and Nazmul carried the body and dumped it in the septic tank. Mohiuddin and Salehi were also there with them.

THE TRIAL

The trial started at Rajshahi's Public Safety Tribunal in June 2007 by framing charges against the six.

However, the court refused to conduct the case two months later mentioning "unavoidable circumstances."

The trial resumed at Rajshahi's Speedy Trial Tribunal in December and examined a total of 26 witnesses before announcing the verdict on May 22, 2008.

THE VERDICT

The tribunal judge ATM Mesbauddoula gave death sentences against four persons – Mohiuddin, Jahangir, Salam and Nazmul.

Two other accused -- Salehi, and Azimuddin were acquitted.

The judge in his verdict observed that Ahmed's findings of piracy were enough to prevent Mohiuddin's promotion.