Seven to die for killing AL leader Atiqullah Chowdhury in Keraniganj in 2013

A Dhaka court has sentenced seven people to death in a case filed over the murder and burning of the body of freedom fighter and Awami League leader Atiqullah Chowdhury seven years ago.

Dhaka Speedy Tribunal-1 Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman delivered the verdict on Wednesday.

The burnt body of Atiqullah with hands, legs and mouth tied was discovered in Dhaka’s Keraniganj in 2013.

The convicts are Md Jahangir alias Jahangir Kha, Ahsanul Kabir Emon, Rafiqul Islam Amin alias Tunda Amin, Shihab Ahmed Shibu, Tajul Islam Tanu, Md Asif and Gulzar Hossain.

Among them, only Jahangir and Emon were present in court when the verdict was passed, while the five others are absconding.

Atiqullah Chowdhury

Shampa Akhter, another suspect in the case, was acquitted of the charges.

In an immediate reaction, Atiqullah's son Saidur Rahman Faruk Chowdhury expressed satisfaction with the verdict.

Police recovered the burnt body of Atiqullah, the then president of the ruling party’s Konda unit, near a hospital in Doloshwar area a day after he had gone missing on Dec 10, 2013.

According to the case dossier, a dispute over the Union Parishad elections led to the Awami League leader's murder. The convicts attempted to destroy evidence by burning his body. The victim's son Saidur later identified the body after seeing his father's documents and an ATM card.

Saidur later started a case against eight people with Keraniganj Police Station over the incident.

The trial proceedings in the case began in 2015 after police pressed charges against the eight suspects after an investigation.