Shawdesh Desk:

A Dhaka court has sentenced 20 people to death and 5 others to life imprisonment in a case filed over the murder of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Abrar Fahad.

Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamaruzzaman of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 pronounced the judgment in presence of 22 of the 25 accused in the much-talked-about case on Wednesday.

The 20 death row convicts are: Chhatra League Buet unit’s then General Secretary Mehedi Hasan Russel, ex Organising Secretary Mehedi Hasan Robin alias Shanto, ex Information and Research Secretary Anik Sarkar Apu, ex Literature Secretary Moniruzzaman Monir, ex Sports Secretary Meftahul Islam Zion, ex Deputy Social Welfare Secretary Ifti Mosharraf Shokal, ex Deputy Office Secretary Mustaba Rafid; former members Mujahidur Rahman Mujahid, Muntasir Al Jemi and Ehtashamul Rabbi Tanim; activists Khandaker Tabakkarul Islam Tanvir, ASM Nazmus Sadat, Majedur Rahman alias Majed, Hossain Mohammad Toha, Shamim Billah, Mizanur Rahman Mizan, SM Mahmud Setu, Shamsul Arefin Rafat, Muhammad Morshed-Uz-Zaman Mondol alias Jishan and Morshed Amartya Islam.

Buet BCL’s former Vice-president Muhtasim Fuad, ex Library and Publication Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Munna, ex Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary Amit Saha and activists Akash Hossain and Moaz Abu Hurayra were given life term imprisonment.

Of the convicts, Mustaba, Jishan and Tanim have been absconding since the incident, while the rest are now behind bars.

During the judgement, the court said it has given the highest punishment to the accused so that such incident does not repeat again.

A total of 46 out of 60 prosecution witnesses have testified in the murder case.

Detective Branch (DB) of police Inspector Md Wahiduzaman, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the court against 25 BUET students on November 13, 2019.

The tribunal had framed charges against all 25 accused in the case on September 15 last year.

According to the police, of the 25 accused, 11 took part in the gruesome murder directly and the other played role in the crime one way or another. Of those arrested, eight have given confessional statements in the case.

BUET students and the varsity authorities found the seemingly lifeless body of Abrar, 22, on the first-floor stairs of Sher-e-Bangla Hall and rushed him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where doctors declared him dead at around 6.30 am on October 7, 2019.

Abrar, 22, a second-year student of EEE department of BUET, was allegedly beaten to death by some leaders of the then BUET unit of Chhatra League over his posts on Facebook.

Abrar’s father Barkatullah filed the case with Chawkbazar Police Station after the incident.