Bangladesh
Blogger Murder Verdict Four to be hanged for blogger Ananta Bijoy Das's murder
Dhaka, March 30: Sylhet court has ordered the execution of four people in the murder case of blogger and science writer Ananta Bijoy Das. Those sentenced to death have been fined Tk 20,000.
Mannan Yahya, one of the accused in the case, died in jail and was acquitted. Besides, Safiur Rahman Farabi has been acquitted as the allegations against him have not been proved.
Judge Nurul Amin Biplob of the Sylhet Anti-Terrorism Tribunal pronounced the verdict in the murder case at 12:30 pm on Wednesday.
The convicts are Abul Khair alias Rashid Ahmed, Abul Hossain alias Abul Hussain, Harunur Rashid and Faisal Ahmed. Of these, only Abul Khair is in jail. The other three accused Abul Hossain alias Abul Hussain, Harunur Rashid and Faisal Ahmed have been absconding since the beginning. Besides, one of the accused in the case Shafiur Rahman Farabi has been acquitted.
Expressing satisfaction over the verdict, plaintiff's lawyer and brother-in-law of the deceased Advocate Samar Vijay Chandra Shekhar said, "We are happy with the verdict of the case." The only thing we want now is to complete the next proceedings of the case in the High Court and execute the verdict.
However, the defendant's lawyer Abdul Ahad said in a response to the verdict, "We have not received justice. We will appeal against this verdict in the high court.
It may be mentioned that on May 12, 2015, Ananta Vijay Das was hacked to death on the road a few hundred yards away from his house in Nurani residential area of Subidbazar in Sylhet city on his way to work. Ansar Bangla Team, a banned militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ratneshwar Das, elder brother of the deceased, filed a case against four unidentified persons at the Airport Police Station. On May 9, 2017, CID inspector Arman Ali filed a supplementary complaint in the court accusing six people.
