RU Prof Rezaul murder verdict May 8

A Rajshahi court yesterday set May 8 for delivering the verdict in Rajshahi University (RU) professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee murder case.

Five militants of banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) are accused in the case.

Judge Shirin Kabita Akhter of Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal announced the date after hearing three-day-long concluding arguments from the prosecution and the defence. 

The court also rejected bail prayers of three of the accused and granted bail to Abdus Sattar due to his illness, said Public Prosecutor Entajul Haque.

The fifth accused, Shariful Islam, a student of English department at RU, is still absconding. Shariful goes by codename Khalid and he planned the killing, according to the charge sheet.

On April 23 in 2016, RU English teacher Prof Rezaul was stabbed to death near his home in the city's Shalbagan area while he was walking to board a bus of the university.

His son Riasat Imtiaz filed a murder case with Boalia Police Station accusing unnamed persons.

On November 3, 2016, Detective Branch Inspector Rezaus Sadik in the charge sheet of the case pressed charges against eight members of Islamist outfit JMB for killing the professor as part of their countrywide killings of freethinkers, bloggers and believers of different faiths.  

Three out of the eight accused were killed in “police raids” and “gunfights”.

Khairul Islam Payal alias Badhan was killed in the raid on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka. Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hasan and Tareque Hasan Milu alias Osman were killed in “gunfights” with law enforcers in Rajshahi and Bogra.

Out of the five living accused, four gave confessional statements in custody. They are polytechnic student Maskawath Hasan Sakib alias Abdullah, RU crop science student Rahmatullah, Abdus Sattar and Sattar's son Ripon.

Prof Rezaul's son Riasat Imtiaz, who was present at the court yesterday along with his sister Rezwana Hasin Shotovi, said, “With Shariful [the mastermind of the killing] remaining absconding, the investigation of the case remains incomplete.”