The High Court has upheld the death sentence of 20 accused BUET students in the much-discussed Abrar Fahad murder case.
The High Court bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain gave the verdict on Sunday. Senior Justice AKM Asaduzzaman read out the verdict.
Earlier, after hearing the appeals and death references of the accused sentenced to death in the trial court, the High Court bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain kept the case pending for verdict on February 24. Later, the case was put on the agenda on Saturday for the verdict to be announced on Sunday.
On October 6, 2019, the body of Abrar Fahad, a second-year student of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, was recovered from Sher-e-Bangla Hall of BUET. Abrar's father filed a murder case with the Chawkbazar Police Station in this incident. After investigating the case, the police filed a charge sheet against 25 BUET students in the court on November 13, 2019.
The charge sheet states, “The accused, in collusion with each other, brutally beat Abrar to death by raising false, fabricated and baseless allegations on suspicion of being a Chhatra Shibir activist.”
Taking cognizance of the charge sheet, the court framed charges against the accused on September 15, 2020. On December 8, 2021, the court sentenced 20 BUET students to death for their involvement in the murder. The court sentenced five more students to life imprisonment in the case.
The case file reached the High Court on January 6, 2022 as a death reference to review the lower court's verdict. The hearing on the matter began on November 28 last year in the High Court bench.
The convicts sentenced to death are: BUET Chhatra League General Secretary Mehedi Hasan Russell (CE Department, 13th Batch), Organizing Secretary Mehedi Hasan Robin (Chemical Engineering Department, 15th Batch), Information and Research Secretary Anik Sarkar Apu (Mechanical Engineering, 15th Batch), Literature Secretary Moniruzzaman Monir (Water Resources Engineering, 16th Batch), Sports Secretary Meftahul Islam Zion (Marine Engineering, 15th Batch), Deputy Social Service Secretary Ifti Mosharraf Sakal (Biomedical Engineering, 16th Batch), Member Muntasir Al Jemi (MI Department), Member Mozahidur Rahman (EEE Department, 16th Batch), Member Hossain Mohammad Toha (ME Department, 17th Batch), Member Ehteshamul Rabbi Tanim (CE Department, 17th Batch), Shamim Billah (Marine Engineering Department, 17th Batch), Majedur Rahman Majed (MME) Department, 17th batch), Khandaker Tabakkarul Islam Tanvir (Mechanical, 17th batch), Muhammad Morshed-uz-Zaman Mandal Jisan (EEE Department, 16th batch), SM Nazmus Sadat (ME Department, 17th batch), Morshed Amartya Islam (ME Department, 17th batch), Mizanur Rahman (Water Resources, 16th batch), Shamsul Arefin Rafat (Mechanical Engineering), Deputy Department Secretary Mujtaba Rafid (Chemical Engineering) and SM Mahmud Setu (Chemical Engineering).
The five accused who were sentenced to life imprisonment are: BUET Chhatra League Vice President Muhtasim Fuad (14th batch, CE department), Writing and Publications Editor Istiak Ahmed Munna (Mechanical, third year), Legal Affairs Deputy Editor Amit Saha (Civil Engineering), member Akash Hossain (CE department, 16th batch) and Moaz Abu Horaira (CSE, 17th batch).
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
