Attorney General Mahbubey Alam today told the High Court that the incident of killing the seven people including Narayanganj City Corporation councillor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Sarker was a pre-planned murder.

The intention of the accused Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel was to kill Nazrul Islam, not to arrest him, he said while placing arguments before the HC during a hearing on the death references and appeals in the sensational Narayanganj seven-murder case.

The attorney general said when Nazrul was detained by the Rab personnel, the four co-passengers of his car and Advocate Chandan and his driver Ibrahim would not be killed if their intention was not to kill Nazrul Islam.

The four co-passengers of Nazrul’s car and Chandan and his driver Ibrahim were killed as they witnessed that Rab personnel were taking Nazrul into their custody, Mahbubey Alam argued.

The attorney general is expected to continue placing argument on July 23, Assistant Attorney General Bashir Ahmed told The Daily Star.   

He said the bench of Justice Bhabani Prasad Singh and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam will resume hearing tomorrow on the death references and appeals.

The judges began the hearing with Deputy Attorney General Abdul Mannan Mohan reading out from the paper book of the case on May 22.

Defence counsels--- Advocate Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury, Advocate SM Shahjahan, Advocate SM Abdul Mobin and Advocate Ahsan Ullah earlier placed arguments defending the accused.

Earlier on January 16, a Narayanganj court found 35 people, including 25 former Rab officials and expelled ruling Awami League man Nur Hossain, guilty of abduction and murder of seven people and destroying evidence in April 2014.

The court handed down death penalty to 26 people, including 16 former Rapid Action Battalion members, and jailed nine others for various terms.

The bodies of seven people, including NCC councillor Nazrul and senior lawyer Chandan, were found floating in the Shitalakkhya River after they were abducted on April 27, 2014.