A Dhaka court has sentenced five robbers to death over the killing of an autorickshaw driver Mukul Hossain, also known as Chocolate, in Keraniganj following a robbery around six years ago
ABM Ashfaq-Ul-Haque of the Dhaka Additional District and Sessions Judge Court-1 delivered the verdict on Thursday
The convicts are gang leader Sohel alias Jewel, Shahin Howlader, Sumon alias Al Amin, Kabir, and Ferdous alias Barek.
Additional Public Prosecutor of the concerned court Md Abu Selim Chowdhury said that, in addition to the death penalty, each convict has been fined Tk10,000. Before the verdict was announced, Shahin and Ferdous were produced before the court from prison. After the judgment, they were sent back to jail.
As the other three convicts are absconding, arrest warrants have been issued against them. Five other accused in the case — Ali Ahmed, Shah Jahan Munshi, Hasan Howlader, Jahangir, and Kabir — were acquitted as the charges against them could not be proven.
The case was filed in June 2020 at South Keraniganj Police Station by the victim’s younger brother Abu Hanif over the murder of Mukul Hossain. According to the case statement, Mukul left his home in Ati Panchdana Karim Haji village in Keraniganj around 2:30pm on 27 June 2020 but did not return home that night. His mobile phone was also found switched off.
Around 1:30am, the owner of the auto-rickshaw informed Mukul’s family that the vehicle he used to drive was lying in a garage in the Dhaka Udyan area of Mohammadpur. The family recovered the vehicle from the garage by paying Tk5,500, but they could not find Mukul.
The next morning around 7:30am, Mukul’s throat-slit body was recovered near Barta Bridge on the Konakhola–Rajbari road in Keraniganj. After that, his younger brother Abu Hanif filed the case.
The investigation was later handed over to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), which arrested 10 accused during the probe. Among them, Sohel, Shahin, Sumon, Kabir, and Ferdous gave confessional statements admitting their involvement in the killing.
PBI Sub-Inspector Anwar Hossain of Dhaka district submitted the charge sheet against 10 accused on 24 November 2022. Charges were framed against them on 2 April 2024, and the trial began. During the trial, the court recorded testimonies from 15 out of 25 witnesses.
