HC upholds death sentence of 20 convicts in Abrar murder case

The High Court has upheld the death sentences of 20 convicts in the Abrar Fahad murder case.

The verdict was announced on Sunday by a High Court bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain, according to local media reports.

During the announcement, Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman and other lawyers representing the state were present in court.

Earlier, the court began delivering the verdict on the appeals and death references of the convicts sentenced to death at 11:00 am.

On October 6, 2019, the body of Abrar Fahad, a second-year student of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, was recovered from Sher-e-Bangla Hall of BUET. Abrar's father filed a murder case with Chawkbazar Police Station in this incident.

After investigating the case, the police filed a chargesheet against 25 BUET students in the court on November 13, 2019.

According to the chargesheet, "The accused, in collusion with each other, brutally beat Abrar to death, raising false, fabricated and baseless allegations, suspecting him of being a student activist."

Taking the chargesheet into consideration, the court framed charges against the accused on September 15, 2020.

On December 8, 2021, the court had sentenced 20 individuals to death and five others to life imprisonment in the Abrar Fahad murder case.

The documents, including the trial court's verdict approving the death sentence of the accused, reached the relevant branch of the High Court on January 6, 2022, which was registered as a death reference.