Seven murders, Abrar and Sinha killings: dates fixed for appeal hearings in three high-profile cases
Dates have been fixed for the hearing of appeals filed by the accused against High Court verdicts in three murder cases that shook the entire country. The three cases are the Narayanganj seven murders, the killing of BUET student Abrar Fahad, and the killing of Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan.
On Sunday, Appellate Division chamber judge Md Rezaul Haque fixed these dates for hearing. According to the fixed schedule, the appeal hearing in the Narayanganj seven murders case will be on 17 November, the appeal hearing in the Abrar Fahad murder case on 24 November, and the appeal hearing in the Sinha murder case will be on 1 December.
These three brutal killings occurred at different times. The Narayanganj killing incident took place on 27 April 2014. The body of BUET student Abrar Fahad was recovered on the morning of 7 October 2019. And on the night of 31 July 2020, Sinha was killed by gunfire at the Shamlapur checkpoint on the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive road. These incidents had created outrage across the country at the time.
Trial courts and the High Court have already delivered verdicts in the separate cases filed over the separate killing incidents. Against those sentencing verdicts, the accused filed separate appeals and leave to appeal (applications seeking permission to appeal). The appeals filed by the accused appeared on the chamber court's cause list on Sunday.
Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kajol, Additional Attorneys General Mohammad Arshadur Rouf and Anik R Haque, and Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Mehedi Hasan were present in court for the state.
Later, at his office, Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kajol told journalists: 'From the Attorney General's office we have taken initiatives for the speedy disposal of these much-discussed cases — cases that have shaken society and the conscience of ordinary people. As the initial stage of that, we prayed to the court for the hearing of the appeals that the convicted persons in three cases filed against the High Court verdicts.'
Mentioning the fixing of dates in the three cases, he further said: 'According to the court's order, the hearing in the Narayanganj seven murders case will be held on 17 November. The appeal hearing in the BUET Abrar Fahad murder case is expected to begin on 24 November. The hearing date for the Major (retd) Sinha murder case has been fixed for 1 December. Our place of expectation is that the hearings begin on the fixed dates in these cases.'
The Narayanganj seven murders began on 27 April 2014. That day, RAB members set up a checkpoint in the Lamapara area of the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road and stopped the car of councillor Nazrul Islam. RAB picked up Nazrul, his three associates and the driver. As lawyer Chandan Sarker saw the abduction while passing that way, he and his driver were also picked up. Later, all of them were killed, and that very night their bellies were slit and sacks of bricks tied to the bodies, which were sunk in the Shitalakshya River. On 30 April six bodies floated up, and one more the next day.
The seven deceased are Nazrul Islam, then councillor of ward no. 2 of Narayanganj City Corporation and panel mayor-2, his friends Moniruzzaman Swapan, Tajul Islam and Liton, Nazrul's driver Jahangir Alam, lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker and his driver Ibrahim. Two cases were filed over the incident — the plaintiff of one is Nazrul's wife Selina Islam, and of the other is Chandan Sarker's son-in-law Bijoy Kumar Pal.
In those two cases, the Narayanganj District and Sessions Judge's Court delivered its verdict on 16 January 2016. In the verdict, 26 people were sentenced to death and 9 people to various terms of imprisonment. After the hearings of the death references and appeals ended, the High Court delivered its verdict on 22 August 2017 — the death sentences of 15 accused were upheld and the sentences of another 11 accused were changed to life imprisonment; the sentences of the 9 accused given various terms of imprisonment were also upheld. After the full verdict was published in November 2018, in 2019 the convicted accused, including former RAB officials Tarek Sayeed Mohammad, Arif Hossain and M Masud Rana and former councillor Nur Hossain, filed separate appeals.
The Abrar Fahad killing occurred centring on a Facebook post. On the night of 6 October 2019, torture of Abrar began at BUET's Sher-e-Bangla Hall; the next morning his body was recovered. Abrar, whose village home is in Kushtia, was a second-year student of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering department of BUET's 17th batch. All those involved in the killing were the then leaders and activists of the BUET branch of Chhatra League; Chhatra League is now banned.
In this case, on 8 December 2021, Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 delivered its verdict — 20 accused were sentenced to death and 5 accused to life imprisonment. Afterwards, on 16 March 2025, the High Court delivered a verdict upholding the sentences of all the accused. The defence lawyers said death-sentenced convicts in jail later filed appeals and those sentenced to life filed leave to appeal.
The Sinha killing occurred at half past nine on the night of 31 July 2020. Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan was killed by gunfire from Inspector Liaquat Ali, the then officer of the Baharchhara investigation centre of the police, at the Shamlapur checkpoint on the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive road.
In this case, on 31 January 2022, the Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge's Court delivered its verdict. In the verdict, former OC Pradeep Kumar Das and former inspector Md Liaquat Ali were sentenced to death and another six accused were given life imprisonment. After the hearings of the death references, jail appeals and appeals ended, the High Court delivered its verdict on 2 June 2025 — the death sentences of Pradeep and Liaquat and the life imprisonment of the other six accused were upheld. Against that verdict, the accused including Pradeep filed appeals.
All three cases are now awaiting hearing in the Appellate Division. The Attorney General's office expects the hearings to begin on the fixed dates. Through the appeal hearings — 17 November for the seven murders, 24 November for the Abrar killing and 1 December for the Sinha killing — the judicial process in the country's three most discussed murder cases will advance to its final stage.
