Seven-murder death row convicts appear 'worried'

Prime convict Nur Hossain, former RAB officer Tarek Sayeed and three others were in the condemned cells at Kashimpur Central Jail after being sentenced to death for seven murders in Narayanganj.

Twelve others, who received the death penalty for the 2014 killings, have been put in cells at Narayanganj District Jail, prison authorities have said.

Six more who received sentences are also in the Narayanganj jail. Of the 35 who were convicted at a Narayanganj court on Monday, 12 are absconding.

In the afternoon of Apr 27, 2014, City Councillor Nazrul Islam, a panel mayor at the river port city, was abducted along with five of his associates from their car on Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road.

Around the same time and location, a senior lawyer in the city, Chandan Kumar Sarkar and his chauffer, who were in another car, were kidnapped.

Three days later, their dead bodies were found floating on the Shitalakkhya River.

After the delivery of the verdict, Nur Hossain, former Lt Col Tarek Sayeed, expelled from the army and as chief of RAB-11, were taken away to Kashimpur Jail along with two other expelled officers, RAB camp commanders Arif Hossain and MM Rana and Lance Naik Belal Hossain.

At Kashimpur Central Jail-2, the men were put in striped prison uniforms, said Jailer Nashir Ahmed.

“They were taken to the room for death row convicts as per rules on Monday night. They appeared worried while being taken there.”

A brother of one of the convicts came to visit on Tuesday noon, but none came to visit Tarek Sayeed and Nur Hossain.

Among the 12 at the Narayanganj Jail, seven are former RAB members while the rest are associates of Nur Hossain, a former city councillor and president of the Awami League at Siddhirganj.

There are 15 condemned cells inside Narayanganj District Jail, said Jailer Md Asadur Rahman.

The 12 men could not be kept separately due to space limitations, since the prison's death row already had 12 older inmates, he said.   

Three convicts are sharing one cell, he said. "The new inmates of death row are being kept in the same way as the others were."