HC upholds death penalty of Kabirul Bharasha over brother’s murder

The High Court has upheld a Dhaka court judgment ordering death penalty to Kabirul Islam Bharasha, elder son of former Jatiya Party MP Karim Uddin Bharasha, on charges of killing his brother.

The bench of Justice Syed Md Ziaul Karim and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir passed the verdict on Wednesday after holding a hearing on the death reference petition.

State-appointed lawyer Hafizur Rahman Khan argued on behalf of fugitive Kabirul in court, while Deputy Attorney General Md Jahangir Alam represented the state.

On Apr 27, 2009, Kabirul shot his younger brother Khairul Islam Bharasha at the latter's Bijoynagar office.

After the murder, Imran Hossain, brother-in-law of Khairul, started a murder case at Paltan Police Station. Kabirul was the only one named in the case.

Kabirul was detained at a drug rehabilitation centre in the capital's Uttarkhan area, 23 days into the killing. He also gave a confessional statement in court. But he jumped bail.

He had told reporters that he had killed Khairul for not giving him money as he was to pay Tk 7.5 million to a Bogura cold storage owner.

He also said that he had taken Yaba just before the killing. Following his confession, police recovered the pistol used for shooting from his car.

Dhaka’s Fourth Metropolitan Sessions Judges Court sentenced Kabirul to death on Apr 11, 2016.

“The accused went into hiding before the trial court delivered its verdict. As a result, there was no appeal against the sentence. The High Court has given its verdict after accepting the death reference,” said lawyer Jahangir.