SC Upholds Death Penalties of 2 Accused over RU Teacher Murder

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Associate Professor Dr Mia Md Mohiuddin and Caretaker Jahangir in the murder case of Dr Taher, Professor of Geology and Mining, Rajshahi University.

The court also upheld the sentences of two convicts Nazmul Alam and his relative Abdus Salam who were sentenced to life imprisonment.

A six-judge bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Fayez Siddiqui pronounced the verdict on Tuesday (April 5th).

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath were present in the court hearing on behalf of the state that day. He was accompanied by Assistant Attorney General Abanti Nurul.

Advocate Nahid Sultana Yuthi represented the plaintiff. Taher’s daughter and lawyer Shagufta Tabassum Ahmed appeared in court during the hearing of the appeals.

Muhiuddin was defended by senior lawyer SM Shajahan while lawyer Imran A Siddiq appeared for Jahangir and his brother Salam and lawyer Shamsul Islam for Nazmul.     

Earlier, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court adjourned until March 1 the appeal hearing of two death-row people convicted of killing Rajshahi University teacher S Taher Ahmed on the campus in 2006.

The 59-year-old geology and mining professor Taher went missing on February 1, 2006 and the police recovered his body from a septic tank behind his house on the university campus on February 3, 2006.

In May 2008, Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal sentenced Mohiuddin, Jahangir and his brother Abdus Salam and brother-in-law Nazmul Alam to death.

Mohiuddin planned with the caretaker to kill Taher over Mohiuddin’s previous enmity over deprivation in his promotion, according to the findings of the verdict.

The lower court, however, acquitted two of the accused -- former RU Islami Chhatra Shibir president Mahbubul Alam Salehi and Jahangir’s father Azimuddin Munshi — of the murder charge.

On April 21, 2013, the High Court after hearing the death reference of the four and their appeals, upheld the death sentences of Mohiuddin and Jahangir, reduced Salam’s and Nazmul’s death sentences to life term.

All the four convicts later appealed challenging their sentences in the Taher murder case.