The High Court has upheld the death sentences of three convicts and acquitted two others in the case filed for killing A-level student Himadri Majumder Himu in Chattogram in 2012.
The HC bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty delivered the verdict on Thursday (November 3) after holding hearing on the death references and appeals.
The death-row convicts are Zahidur Rahman Shaon, Junaid Ahmed Riad and Mahbub Ali Danny. The two people who were acquitted by the High Court are Shah Selim Tipu and Md Shahadat Hossain Saju.
Riad has been absconding since the start of the trial, while Shaon went into hiding after he was released on bail.
A Chittagong court on August 14 in 2016 sentenced five persons -- Tipu, Saju, Shaon, Danny and Riad -- to death in the murder case.
The death reference and other documents in the case came to the High Court this year. The suspects also filed an appeal against their convictions.
According to the case statement, Himu, a student of Summerfield School and College in Chattogram, was taken forcibly to the rooftop of a four-storey building, owned by Riad’s father Tipu, in Panchlaish Residential Area in the port city on April 27 in 2012. The convicts kidnapped Himu from in front of the school after he intercepted their drug dealing efforts.
He was beaten mercilessly. At one stage, the convicts unleashed three ferocious dogs upon him, and then he was pushed off from the building.
Himu was first admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital in a critical condition. Later, he was taken to Surgiscope Hospital. When his condition worsened, he was brought to Square Hospitals in Dhaka. Himu succumbed to his injuries in the hospital after 26 days on May 23 in 2012.
While undergoing treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, the victim described how he was tortured.
Himu’s uncle Prakash Das Asit filed a murder case accusing five people.
Panchlaish Thana Police submitted a charge-sheet to the court on September 30 in 2012, accusing the five. On October 18 of the same year, the court issued an arrest warrant against the absconding accused. Charges were framed against the accused on February 3 in 2014.
Himu was involved in an anti-drug organisation known as Shikor as well as social work. He also worked for ensuring the welfare of people.