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BABUL MURDER CASE

4 jailed for 33 years

COURT CORRESPONDENT
A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced four people including the victim's driver to 33 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) for killing Obaidul Haq Babul, an Awami League leader, in October 1996.
The court could not try four-party alliance leader Naziur Rahman Manzur as the High Court had earlier stayed the proceedings of charges brought against him in the supplementary charge sheet following a quashment petition.
Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of the Fifth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court handed down the verdict in presence of the convicts except one.
The convicts are Babul's driver Mohammad Farid, Mohammad Ilias Khan, Saiful Islam and Abdul Al Mamun alias "Jasad" Babu who was tried in absentia.
In the order, the court said there were no eyewitnesses in the case but the accused were given the punishment on the basis of their confessional statements and the circumstantial evidence gathered during the investigation.
The order acquitted Jubo League leader Sahabuddin Shah, Kazi Golam Kibria Tipu, Shariful Islam, Asadur Rahman Jahangir and Shahidul Islam Chunnu as the charges brought against them were not proved.
Obaidul Haq Babul, managing director of Anannya Apparels Limited and a renowned industrialist as well as a contestant in the 1996 Bhola-1 byelection, was gunned down in the city's Pallabi area at about 10:35pm on
October 10, 1996.
The victim's younger brother Shahidul Haq Mukul filed a murder case with the Pallabi Police Station accusing unknown people the next day.
Seven investigation officers (IOs) probed the case and submitted the charge sheet against the accused. The name of Naziur Rahman Manzur was not included in the first charge sheet but the IOs later included his name in a supplementary charge sheet submitted onApril 3, 2001.
Manzur surrendered to the court on July 18, 2001 and was sent to Dhaka Central Jail.
The IOs learnt from the confessional statement of accused Ilias Khan that Manzur, Babul's opponent in the election and confined then in jail, decided to kill Babul to clean his way to victory in the election. Later, as per Manzur's direction, his associates killed Babul, the IO mentioned in the charge sheet.
Additional Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Golam Mostafa Khan appeared for the state while advocates ABM Sharfuddin Khan Mukul, TM Akbar, Mohammad Hanif and Anwar Kabir Babul defended the accused.