Son among three people sentenced to death over lawyer’s murder in Sylhet

A Sylhet court has sentenced three people, including the victim’s son, to death in a case filed over the murder of former Sylhet District Bar Association president Shamsul Islam Chowdhury.

Divisional Special Judge’s Court Judge Shahadat Hossain Pramanik announced the verdict in the 14-year-old case on Tuesday, state counsel Md Ansaruzzaman said.

The convicts are the victim’s son Masud Ahmed Chowdhury Munna, 45, and his associates Zahar Ali, 35, and Ansar Ahmed, 25.

Ansaruzzaman said Munna had attacked his father Shamsul with a stone from behind while the senior lawyer was offering Shab-e-Barat prayers on Jul 17, 2011, leaving him unconscious.

Later, he was given an anaesthetic dose intravenously before being placed into a car and thrown into the Surma River in the Mallikpur area of Sunamganj’s Chhatak Upazila. His body was found in the river in Brahmangaon village of Sunamganj a few days later. Three individuals, including the driver, helped Munna in the incident.

The court also sentenced driver Borhan Uddin to three years in prison.

All the accused are in hiding. Ansaruzzaman said 19 out of 30 witnesses in the case testified in court.

He said advocate Shamsul was the father of four daughters and two sons. His eldest son, Mahmud Ahmed Chowdhury, is the plaintiff in the case. Lawyer Gulam Yah-Ya Chowdhury Suhel stood for the petitioner.

The court’s PP Advocate Badrul Ahmed Chowdhury said, “The judge said in his observation that fathers and sons generally have a sweet relationship. At an old age, a father seeks help from his son but lawyer Shamsul Islam Chowdhury was killed over a land dispute. Those guilty of this heinous crime will be punished.”

The court’s aide Mohammad Ahmed Ali said, “Munna asked his father to write the front portion of Mir Boxtula’s house in his name. But as Shahadat Hossain did not agree to it, Munna often tortured him mentally.”