Moulvibazar Correspondent

A Moulvibazar court on Wednesday sentenced four persons to death for the November 2023 murder of Rezaul Karim Nayeem, a first-year degree student at Moulvibazar Government College.

District and Sessions Judge Muhang Ribiul Awal delivered the verdict in the high-profile case nearly three years after the incident took place in the Varshijora area under Chandnighat Union of Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila.

The death row convicts are Md. Nurul Islam, Md. Simon Islam, Nahidul Islam Roni, and Anwar Hossain. Among them, Nahidul Islam Roni and Anwar Hossain remain absconding. The court acquitted five other accused in the case as allegations against them were not proven beyond reasonable doubt.

According to the case prosecution, on the evening of November 7, 2023, primary accused Nurul Islam and his accomplices entered the residence of Nayeem’s father, Md. Cherag Miah, over an altercation regarding a disputed Facebook profile. When Cherag Miah and his wife Samsun Nahar were assaulted, Nayeem intervened to protect his parents, whereupon the assailants attacked him with sharp domestic weapons. Nayeem succumbed to his injuries the following morning while undergoing treatment at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.

Following the incident, the victim's father filed a murder case naming nine individuals at Moulvibazar Sadar Model Police Station on November 9, 2023.

Delivering the judgment under Section 368(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1898, the judge ordered that the four convicts be hanged by the neck until dead.

Public Prosecutor (PP) Advocate Dr. Abdul Matin Chowdhury and the victim's family expressed satisfaction with the verdict, urging law enforcement to swiftly apprehend the absconding convicts and execute the court order.