Verdict any day in AL MP Ahsanullah Master 2004 murder case

The Appellate Division on Monday concluded the hearing on appeals in the 2004 murder case of former Awami League lawmaker Ahsanullah Master, keeping the case CAV (Curia Advisari Vult) for a verdict that may be delivered any day.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, passed the order after concluding arguments and rebuttals from both the defence and the state.

Senior lawyers SM Shahjahan and Shishir Manir appeared for the accused, while Additional Attorney General Muhammad Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan represented the state.

After the hearing, Shishir Manir told journalists that there was no legal evidence sufficient to uphold the convictions.

He said the accused had been convicted to implicate political opponents while excluding the main accused to serve political interests.

He also argued that no eyewitness had directly witnessed the killing and that the person who gave the dying declaration is still alive. Therefore, he said, the statement cannot be admissible as a dying declaration under the Evidence Act.

“We hope the Appellate Division will set aside the High Court verdict and acquit the accused,” he said.

Ahsanullah Master, a veteran freedom fighter, labour leader and teacher, was shot dead in broad daylight by a group of miscreants on May 7, 2004, at a rally on the grounds of Noagaon MA Majid Mia High School in Gazipur.

His brother Motiur Rahman filed a murder case with Tongi Police Station the following day against 17 people and 10 to 12 unidentified people.

A Speedy Trial Tribunal on April 16, 2005, sentenced 22 people, including BNP leader Nurul Islam Sarker, to death and six others to life imprisonment.

The case subsequently went to the High Court for death references and appeals against the trial court verdict.

On June 15, 2016, a High Court bench comprising Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath delivered its verdict.

The court upheld the death sentences of six accused and life imprisonment for two others.

It commuted the death sentences of seven accused to life imprisonment and acquitted 11 others.

Two of the convicts later died.

The convicted accused subsequently filed appeals with the Appellate Division against the High Court verdict, while the state filed applications challenging the acquittals.

After a lengthy hearing, the Appellate Division on Monday kept the case CAV for its final verdict.