BANGLADESH: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2001 MURDER OF GARDENER IN DHAKA

July 10, 2023:

A Dhaka court has handed down the death sentence to two people in a decades-old case over the murder of a nursery gardener in Dhaka's Cantonment area.
Judge Ali Ahmed of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 delivered the verdict on July 9, 2023. However, the convicts, nursery owner Mustafizur Rahman alias Liton, and another gardener, Anwar Hossain, are on the run.
The court also issued arrest warrants against them.
The nursery's chief gardener Abul Hossain had a dispute with the convicts over the running of the business, which led to his murder, according to the case dossier.
The victim had opened the nursery in partnership with Mustafizur after securing a piece of land on lease in Kurmitola.
Mustafizur used to handle the administrative affairs of the business.
But on Sept 5, 2001, Mustafizur raised questions when he did not find Hossain at the nursery. He was told by other nursery workers that Hossain was visiting a relative at the hospital.
Two days later, Hossain was found dead in a manhole in the neighbourhood.
Two gardeners were taken in for questioning afterwards. Later, Mustafizur and Anwar were placed under arrest.
Another nursery staffer, Abu Taher, started a case with the Cantonment Police Station over the incident. Law enforcers pressed charges against the accused on Nov 11 that year.
The court indicted the two and opened trial proceedings in 2003.