4 acquitted in Jubair murder case

The High Court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty of five convicted people in the 2012 murder case of Jubair Ahmed, a student of Jahangirnagar University, reports UNB.

The court also upheld life term to two convicts and acquitted four others.

The HC bench of justice Bhabani Prasad Singha and justice Mustafa Zaman Islam passed the order.

The condemned convicts are Khandaker Ashiqul Islam alias Ashiq, Rashidul Islam Raju, Khan Mohammad Rais alias Sohan and Zahid Hasan and Mahabub Akram. All but Raju remained absconding.

The lifers are Ishtiaq Mehbub alias Arup and Najmus Sakib Topu while four acquitted people are Avinandan Kundu, Kamruzzaman Sohag, Mazharul Islam and Shafiul Alam.

On 9 January last, the court fixed the date after concluding the hearing on the death references and appeals.

Earlier, the HC started the hearing on 2 January.

Jubair Ahmed, 23, an undergraduate student of English department at Jahangirnagar University, died at United Hospital in the capital on 9 January in 2012, hours after his abduction and torture on the campus by his political opponents on 8 January.

On 8 February 2015, a Dhaka court sentenced five people to death and six others to life imprisonment for the killing.

Later, the accused filed separate appeals with the HC challenging the lower court verdict.