The Supreme Court today commuted the death sentence of three convicts to imprisonment till natural death in the sensational Gopal Krishna Muhuri murder case of Chattogram.

Principal Gopal Krishna Muhuri of Nazirhat College in Chittagong was shot dead at his Jamal Khan Road residence in Chattogram on November 16, 2001.

Today, a three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Justice Muhammad Imman Ali commuted the death sentence of the three convicts after hearing their appeals against the High Court verdict on them in the case. 

The grounds on which the apex court commuted their death sentence could not be known immediately as the full text of the verdict has not been released yet.  

All the three convicts -- Azam, Alamgir Kabir alias Baitta Alamgir, and Taslimuddin Montu --  are now in the condemned cell, Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta told The Daily Star this morning.

The three convicts will be shifted to the normal cell of the jail as they are not death-row convicts, he said.

DAG Amit Das Gupta, however, could not say in which jail the three convicts are serving their punishment.             

Following the death reference and appeals of the convicts, the HC on July 19, 2006 upheld a lower court verdict awarding capital punishment to four convicts, including the three, for killing Gopal Krishna Muhuri. 

Of the four, Nasir alias Gittu Nasir was killed in a crossfire with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on March 2, 2005.

The three convicts, who are in jail, filed three separate appeals with the SC challenging the HC verdict on them.

Lawyers Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Helal Uddin Mollah appeared for the convicts.