Homes of Ahsanullah murder case convicts attacked

Homes of two death row convicts of the Awami League lawmaker Ahsanullah Master murder case were ransacked and torched in Gazipur’s Tongi upazila last evening.        

Relatives claimed that local AL activists carried out the attack on the residences of Shahidul Islam Shipu and his brother Nurul Islam Dipu at Gopalpur, our Gazipur correspondent reported, quoting Officer-in-Charge of Tongi Police Station Kamal Hossain.

Shahidul Islam is now in jail in the murder case while Nurul Islam remains fugitive in Belgium.

Nurul Islam’s wife Sharifa Khanam and nephew Shahriar Nazim said a group of people were “shouting slogans for Awami League” during the attack.

The miscreants set the house on fire pouring petrol and also ransacked furniture, they said.

On information, a firefighting unit rushed to the spot and doused the fire, said Atiqur Rahman, senior station officer of Tongi fire service.

Fire ravaged three rooms while furniture of about 20 rooms were ransacked during the attack, fire service sources said.

Police also appeared on the scene and brought the situation under control, OC Kamal Hossain said.

AHSANULLAH MURDER

On May 7, 2004, gunmen shot and killed Ahsanullah, the then president of Jatiya Sramik League, Omar Faruq Ratan and wounded 17 others.

The next day, Ahsanullah's brother Motiur filed the case against 19 people, including Nurul Islam Sarkar, a Jubo Dal leader.

On April 16, 2005, a Dhaka court handed down death sentences to 22 people, including Shahidul Islam and Nurul Islam, and life terms to six others for killing Ahsanullah.

A decade later, on June 15, 2016, HC confirmed death penalty of six persons, including the duo. It, however, commuted capital punishment of seven others to life imprisonment, upheld life term of two and acquitted 11 of the charges against them.