A Chattogram court has sentenced two people to death and six others to life for killing Zillur Bhandari.
Chattogram Additional District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Samidul Islam announced the verdict on Tuesday, reports bdnews24.com.
The death row convicts are Shaheedul Islam Khokon and Ismail.
The six who received life sentences in prison are Abu, Kamal, Jashim, Tota Mia, Nasir and Sumon.
Only Shaheedul Islam Khokon is in custody. The remaining suspects are at large.
Another five suspects – Jahangir, Ramiz Uddin Ranju, Azim, Nazim and Shahab Uddin – were acquitted in the case.
“The court has sentenced two to death and six to life imprisonment as the allegations were proven,” said Abdus Sattar, who represented the prosecution.
“We are initially satisfied by the verdict. We will discuss whether to pursue an appeal against the five suspects acquitted once we receive the full verdict.”
“The notable aspect of this case and the verdict is that the first investigating officer of the case – Sub Inspector Haidar Ali – had dropped the charges against the two lead suspects in his report. He even failed to note the multiple cases filed against the accused.”
“As the plaintiff lives abroad, his brother submitted an objection to the investigation report. The CID then investigated the case and charged them. Today both of the suspects initially left out have been given capital punishment.”
Zillur Rahman aka Zillur Bhandari was shot dead near the main gates of the Ranirhat Primary School in Chattogram’s Rangunia Upazila on Jan 21, 2015. The victim’s younger brother Mohammad Azim Uddin filed a case over his death.
On Oct 9, 2016 the CID filed charges against 13 suspects. They were indicted on May 28, 2019.
According to the case documents, Zillur’s brother Mohammad Ziauddin Bablu had sponsored convict Ismail’s brother Mohammad Jabbar to go to Qatar three months before the murder.
But visa complications led to arguments between Bablu and Jabbar and the sponsorship was cancelled, forcing Jabbar to return to Bangladesh.
On the night of Jan 20, 2015, Ismail saw Zillur at Ranirhat Bazar, asked him why his brother had been sent home and demanded the return of Tk 250,000 the family paid for the sponsorship.
This led to an argument. The following day, Zillur was attacked when he was alone and beaten. He was then shot in the leg.
Zillur was taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital for treatment and died that day.
Zillur’s brother named eight suspects and accused five unnamed suspects in the case. The CID eventually submitted charges against 13 suspects.
The trial ended Dec 12 and the court had initially set Jan 11 for the verdict, but it was eventually delayed to Feb 15.
