104-year-old man goes to jail in 26-year-old case

Nur Mohammad, 104, has gone to jail to serve a 10-year sentence given by the higher court in a dacoity and double murder case of 26 years ago in Kishoreganj.

He surrendered in the court of Judge Farzana Yasmin of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 and applied for bail on the condition of appeal on Tuesday (September 8). However the court rejected the bail application and ordered him to be sent to jail.

Bench assistant of the concerned court Mizanur confirmed the matter and said Nur Mohammad had applied to go to jail by transport at his own cost due to illness. However the court also rejected that application.

According to the case documents, a dacoity took place at the shop of shop owner Md Ferdous in the Bara Bazar area of Kishoreganj on the night of December 30, 2000. At that time Mosharraf Hossain and Abdul Kabir were killed. The dacoits looted Tk 12.5 lakh and 110 bhori of gold from the shop’s safe and took them away.

Over this incident Ferdous filed a case with Kishoreganj police station. After completing the investigation SI Anwar Hossain of Kishoreganj police station submitted the charge sheet in court naming 14 persons as accused on February 13, 2002. Later charges were framed against the accused and the trial started. The case was sent from Kishoreganj to the Speedy Trial Tribunal in Dhaka for trial. During the trial the testimony of 13 persons was taken.

On November 16, 2003 Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 pronounced the verdict of the case. In the verdict Habibur Rahman Habib, Shah Alam, Moin Uddin alias Moin Uddin, Nur Mohammad, Alam, Dilu alias Delwar Hossain, Shukur Ali and Altu Mia were given the death penalty.

Jasim, Siddique, Amir Chan, Kabir and Bazlur Rahman were given life imprisonment. In addition a fine of Tk 5,000 each and one more year of imprisonment in default were given. Harish Mia died during the trial of the case.

Later after the death reference and appeal hearing the higher court upheld the death penalty of Alam on August 19, 2007. Other accused were given sentences for various periods. The sentence of Nur Mohammad was reduced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Nur Mohammad surrendered in court and applied for bail on Tuesday. Lawyer Faisal Ahmed conducted the hearing on his behalf. He informed the court that Nur Mohammad’s age is 104 years. He cannot walk normally and has to take regular treatment and medicine. Despite being affected by complicated diseases he has voluntarily surrendered in court. Therefore the application was made to grant him bail on the condition of appeal.

After the hearing the court rejected the bail application and ordered Nur Mohammad to be sent to jail.

From the case documents it is known that Nur Mohammad had earlier confessed to the responsibility of the murder and given a statement in court. Later he obtained bail from the court and became a fugitive. He was also a fugitive at the time of the pronouncement of the verdict of the case.